After decades of disposing of their refuse then forgetting about it, Dunedin residents are finally embracing the concept of recycling.
Since kerbside recycling was introduced throughout suburban areas in 2003, steadily increasing amounts of plastic, steel, aluminium, glass, paper and cardboard are being diverted away from the Green Island landfill.
That benefits the environment and means the present landfill will last many years longer before its expensive replacement at Smooth Hill, near Brighton, needs to be developed.
Last year, 7955 tonnes of material was recycled - 13.5% more than the 7011 tonnes recycled in 2007, and well ahead of the 5000 or so tonnes collected in the first 12 months of the scheme.
However, Dunedin City Council staff estimate 32,000 tonnes of refuse - about one third of the total tonnage of refuse generated annually in the city - could be recycled or composted if a general and green waste recycling system was working at its optimum level.
The council has also introduced a "pay as you go" refuse collection system to further encourage residents to reduce, re-use and recycle unwanted materials rather than discard them.
It has also appointed a waste exchange co-ordinator to match businesses with material to discard with those who need those products.
However, trying to encourage full participation in recycling is difficult.
The council is grappling with the problem of commercial wheelie bin services which, while convenient for customers, do not encourage waste minimisation or recycling, and with the overall cost of services.
Recycling costs money.
Contractors are needed to carry out the collection and sorting, and landfill operating costs still have to be met even if tonnages decline.
At present, recycling, refuse and landfill services cost Dunedin residents about $2.5 million annually through their rates, and they have to buy refuse bags (or wheelie bins) as well.
Dunedin's recycling picture was mirrored for most other local authorities, Dunedin City Council water and waste services manager John Mackie said.
Most were trying to meet the targets of the New Zealand Waste Strategy 2002, which outlined guidelines by which councils could move towards the goal of no waste going to landfills at all.
While laudable, that target was impossible, Mr Mackie said.
The best councils could do was to implement a multi-pronged approach which would reduce waste to landfill as much as possible.
Now that most authorities had the basics in place, recycling was entering a new phase, Mr Mackie said.
Part of that was a national levy being introduced this year of $10 per tonne of refuse deposited at council and private landfills.
Half the money would be kept by the Government and spent on recycling and waste minimisation initiatives, and half would go back to local authorities to encourage similar community initiatives.
Collaboration between councils would be the secret to successful refuse disposal and recycling systems, Mr Mackie predicted.
Individually, local authorities did not generate enough recyclables to gain high sale prices in a tough marketplace, and were facing increasing costs for running individual landfills.
But collectively they could provide a more cost-effective service.
"In Canterbury, six local authorities have banded together to run a regional recycling system and regional landfill. That's the sort of thing I can see will have to happen in Otago to get the economies of scale needed."
Mr Mackie said while many people did not like the thought of refuse or recyclables being transferred from one area to another, that might become the reality.
Because Dunedin's Green Island landfill complied with stringent national regulations, and because the council already had resource consent to develop the Smooth Hill landfill when the time came, it was likely Dunedin would become the central point for the disposal of Otago's refuse.
Rubbish facts
1. Rubbish and recycling in New Zealand New Zealanders sent an estimated 3.15 million tonnes of rubbish to landfills in 2006, down slightly from the 3.18 million tonnes deposited in 1995.
2. Almost 50% of waste sent to landfills is garden and food waste, timber, and construction and demolition waste which could be recycled.
3. The number of landfills throughout the country has declined rapidly because of the introduction of stricter environmental controls. There were 327 landfills nationwide in 1995; now there are 60.
Of these, 54% use liners to stop liquid, created when rubbish decomposes, escaping from the landfill and contaminating underground water supplies, 77% collect leachate liquids, and 23% recover landfill gas.
4. About 97% of New Zealanders have access to either kerbside recycling or drop-off centres.
5.More New Zealanders are recycling. In 2005, 329,283 tonnes of paper, plastic, cardboard, glass, steel and aluminium collected through local authority recycling schemes was diverted from landfills.
When recycling from businesses was included, the total amount of material diverted from landfills was estimated at 2.4 million tonnes.
Source: Environment New Zealand 2007 report, Ministry for the Environment
What happens to recycling in Otago
Paper and cardboard: Shipped to Australia or Asia to be processed into more paper and cardboard.
Aluminium and tin cans: Shipped to Australia to be melted down and made into new cans. It is generally cheaper for South Island recycling contractors to send items to Australia than to the North Island.
Products difficult to recycle
Plastics: Usually sold and shipped to China to be washed, flaked and processed into tiny plastic beads which are used to manufacture new plastic products.
A slump in world prices from about October last year means plastics are being stockpiled in the hope markets will improve.
Glass: Glass used to be sent to Auckland for recycling, but the low market price has made this exercise uneconomic for many contractors and local authorities.
It is hoped a new furnace being constructed in Auckland will be operational by next year and will recycle glass into new jars and bottles.
Many companies and community groups are experimenting with crushing glass to be used as a bedding material around pipes and grapevines, beneath building foundations or for roadmaking.
In other parts of the world, glass is crushed and mixed with concrete to create items such as bench tops, floors, tiles, outdoor tables and planter boxes.
Plastic-lined milk cartons, plastic containers such as ice cream containers and yoghurt pottles, and supermarket bags: These can be shipped to China for recycling, but the low volumes generated in New Zealand make that uneconomic.
At present, these items are being baled and stockpiled awaiting a suitable market.
Source: DCC website and various environmental websites
