8 hours Ago By Hibiscus Matters
Despite the name, Recycling Week encourages kiwis to consider the whole waste minimisation hierarchy. This year’s theme goes back to basics to focus on the first step of any waste minimisation journey – Understand your waste. Campaign organiser Reclaim emphasises that only through full understanding of the problem can a sustainable solution be achieved.
Their awareness campaign aims to educate people on how to approach waste and recycling, changing behaviour and developing more positive disposing habits. The first step is for people to consider whether the waste product can be avoided, reduced, reused, or repaired before resorting to recycling. Recycling is only a little better than sending something to landfill.
All our recycling collected on the Coast is trucked further south – adding to congestion. The recycling process requires energy, water and sometimes extra virgin material. A better option is to reduce the amount we need to recycle in the first place.
Think Reduce Refill Reuse Replace Repurpose. Glass is one resource that is easily recycled into new glass. So we’re lucky to have the Whangaparāoa Community Recycling Centre here on the Coast where staff check that only clean items that can be recycled are taken.
They also accept those pesky lids that can’t go into council recycling bins. Recycling Week is about more than simply knowing what can and can’t be recycled. At Hibiscus Coast Zero Waste, we manage the bin stations at local events with funding from Auckland Council and Hibiscus & Bays Local Board.
While our team does a great job of sorting items, we also see first-hand the amount needing to be recycled that could be reduced, especially when it comes to single use plastic. Take your own water bottle, coffee cup, plate or container for taking food away when you’re out and about or going to an event. I challenge you to make my job redundant.
Alexander Scrap Metals is doing their part to promote Recycling Week by offering free pick up or drop off of any old whiteware, to their yard in Silverdale. Owner Hugh Milliken said, “Our industry doesn’t view metals as a waste, but rather a resource. Metals are only wasted when they are not properly recycled.
Kerbside collections only take a small fraction of what can be recycled. “Metals are infinitely recyclable and a valuable export commodity for New Zealand. We also pay for metal types based on market prices, something members of the public may not realise.
” After a corporate redundancy twenty years ago, Milliken started working at his uncle’s scrap yard. He loved the job so much that he ended up buying the company. They try and divert as much from landfill as possible.
With current landfill sites filling up and the challenges of finding new sites, this is more important than ever. Milliken stresses that it’s crucial for the younger generation to get involved in recycling..
