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Although Auckland Council’s waste solutions team says most residents do a pretty good job of putting the right things in their kerbside recycling bins, there are others who need to brush up their knowledge of what is actually recyclable in those bins.
Among the things that turned up in Auckland’s recycling bins last year were dead animals, bottles of chemicals, golf clubs, deck chairs, home appliances, tree stumps, prosthetic body parts, firearms and ammunition, flares, car parts, Lego and Christmas trees.
Top spot for the most unexpected item was a closely fought contest between a samurai sword and an artificial hip joint.
Council’s waste solutions general manager, Parul Sood says things like batteries, electronics, and electrical appliances, should be kept out of recycling bins as they pose a significant risk in the recycling trucks, especially when the compaction equipment is used.
The most dangerous items put in recycling bins are car and lithium ion batteries. If compacted in the recycling trucks, these can cause fires, as happened in Warkworth late last year.
On the Hibiscus Coast, the most common and unusual contaminant is dog waste, either placed there by the residents themselves, or possibly by passersby dropping it in other people’s recycling bins that are out on the kerb.
Pet waste can be put in the rubbish, and there are also composting options although compost that includes pet poo should not be used on gardens containing edible plants.
When non-recyclable items are put in recycling bins, it can affect the entire load, although it depends on a few factors. If a bin has lots of incorrect items, the inspectors put a tag on it, asking people to remove the incorrect items and put the bin out again on the next collection day. If it is red-tagged, the bin will not be emptied.
However, Ms Sood says if there is an area where many bins have high levels of contamination, it becomes an issue at the Materials Recycling Facility, where workers have to sort and separate the contamination from the recyclables.
Occasionally, maybe once or twice a year, if there is a very high level of contamination in a truckload, due to substances such as oil spreading or a high volume of incorrect items, then the entire truckload is sent to landfill.
A list of what can and can’t be recycled is easy to check at makethemostofwaste.co.nz/recycling/what-can-and-cant-go-into-your-recycling-bin/
