Resource Recovery Centre

• Can I get paper rubbish bags?

  No.  They cost more to produce, handle and store so Council has decided to use only plastic rubbish bags.

• Can I recycle chip packets?

  These look like aluminium foil but are actually plastic.  They are a non-recyclable plastic so should be placed in your rubbish bag for disposal to landfill.

• Can I recycle egg cartons?

  These are not recyclable as they already a recycled product (made from newspapers) and the fibres are so short that they don’t bind again if they go through another recycling process.  We are collecting them however as we want to make up some bales for operational purposes – to make up bays in the building and provide forklift barriers.

• Can I recycle my phone book?

  Yes - take it to the Resource Recovery Centre.

• Can I recycle plastics without a recycling triangle?

  If your plastic rubbish doesn’t have a number in the recycling triangle it means that the item isn’t recyclable and should be placed in your rubbish bag for disposal to landfill.

• Do my steel cans need to be squashed?

  No; it's actually easier for us to bale the cans when they are un-flattened.  The paper labels can be left on but it is really important that the cans are clean.

• What do I do with my rubbish when I have been out boating in the Marlborough Sounds?

  Port Marlborough provides rubbish facilities for boaties at Picton and Havelock marinas. Alternatively, you can take your rubbish to any transfer station.

• What happens to the glass bottles?

  Glass bottles and jars are taken to a company called OI New Zealand, based in Auckland. The glass has to be sorted and delivered in separate colours - clear, brown and green with any lids or tops removed. The company then crush and melt down the glass material and remake it into new bottles and jars. More information on this process can be found at: http://recycleglass.co.nz/

  Glass that is not separated by colour is taken to the Fulton Hogan crushing plant in Renwick where it is mixed and crushed with river gravels to be made into roading basecourse material.  Roads are made up of many layers of materials and the basecourse is at the bottom so you won’t see glass in the actual roading surface anywhere.

• Where can I get official Council rubbish bags?

  Each July a Rubbish bag Voucher for a pack of 52 official Council rubbish bags is posted to property owners.

  Official Council rubbish bags can be purchased at any time from the Customer Service Centres or participating supermarkets.

  For a list and more information see Official Council Rubbish Bags.

• Which Plastics Are Actually Recycled

  Currently HDPE (2), PET (1) and "mixed" plastics can be recycled out of Marlborough.  The "mixed" plastics however are worth very little and not even the cost of transporting the bales to Christchurch is covered by the income that is received.  Bales of "mixed" plastics cost the ratepayer about $270 per tonne to recycle and the revenue gained is about $25 per tonne.

• Which plastics can be recycled?

  Any clean household container with the recycling triangle and number 1,2,3,4,5,6 or 7 can be dropped off at the Resource Recovery Centre.

• Why cant I recycle polystyrene?

  Polystyrene requires specialised recycling technology, which means that it can’t be mixed with other plastics for processing.  We do not have access to that technology here in Marlborough and we are not able to collect and process polystyrene in the quantities that would make it worthwhile to handle.

• Why can't I Recycle Tetrapaks

  Tetrapaks™ are a composite packaging material which is made up of a mix of plastic, paper, aluminium and wax.  Larger countries have the technology to be able to separate these layers at the recycling stage.  Here in New Zealand we do not have access to that technology and we cannot supply the quantities needed to make sending to those countries worthwhile.

• Why do I need to remove lids?

  We process plastics, paper, cardboard and metals by squashing them into bales through our compacting machine.  When plastic bottles with lids on go through the process it is difficult to compact them and they can end up like bubbles in the bales.  Removing bottle lids makes it possible to compact plastic to a much tighter and heavier bale than is possible if the bale has air pockets. Waste plastic buyers won't purchase light bales as it costs too much to transport them.

• Why do my recyclables need to be clean?

  All the materials that you throw through the wall slots at the Resource Recovery Centre are handled by staff.  The recyclables are sorted and baled and then the bales are stored on site for various lengths of time.  Contaminated recyclable materials can make this work very unpleasant – particularly unrinsed milk bottles, which quickly become smelly and are potentially a health hazard. We also experience problems with un-rinsed plastic, aluminium and glass drink containers as bees and wasps are attracted to the sugar residues.

• Why so fussy about what gets thrown into the glass bottle skips?

  The crushing machinery absolutely hates plastic bags as these don’t crush with the gravels; they just stretch and become a contaminant in the basecourse material.  It is really important to keep plastic bags, bottles and sleeves out of the skips as if we have too much contamination it could put the whole glass recycling project at risk.  (By sleeves we mean the plastic labels around some RTD bottles – best to throw those bottles in your rubbish bag for landfill disposal or, better still, avoid purchasing that type of packaging in the first place!)

  Metal screw caps and paper labels left on bottles is fine.  Corks, however, are also a problem and should be disposed of to landfill.