Recognition for recycling initiative

A Dunedin woman working to combat a gap in recycling is "still in shock" about the recognition of her work.

Leisa de Klerk was awarded the Jan Tucker Special Award at the Keep Dunedin Beautiful community awards ceremony this week for her work leading an initiative to recycle liquid paperboard products.

These are otherwise known as Tetra Pak and include products such as long-life milk and juice cartons.

The cartons cannot be recycled through the Dunedin City Council rubbish collection.

Ms de Klerk, now the community connector for Taieri Network, led the initiative while working as OneCoast community facilitator.

She said the cartons were sent to a Hamilton business which turned the boxes into sustainable building products.

Leisa de Klerk has won a Keep Dunedin Beautiful award and Taste Nature owner Clinton Chambers has played a big role in her efforts to get Tetra Pak cartons recycled. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON

There were now seven collection points ranging from Mosgiel to Waikouaiti, with and eighth in the works.

She said the efficacy of a zero-waste world was what inspired her to start the recycling move.

Going forward, the initiative would also look into a more environmentally friendly way to expand processing capacity.

"We could have easily done 15,000 [packs] but we didn’t have the capacity to get those last few items processed," Ms de Klerk said.

OneCoast had teamed up with the Waihemo Wastebusters in Palmerston to further the recycling work.