Plastic Free July is well underway, therefore it’s the ideal time to consider what we can each do to help reduce plastic waste in our communities. One way to do this is to increase our awareness of the different types of plastic used to package the products we purchase, and whether it can actually be recycled – you might be surprised at some of the packaging that can’t go in your kerbside recycling.
To shed some light on this topic we’re sharing an article from eco warrior Hayley Crawford who is super enthusiastic and knowledgeable when it comes to reducing waste.
Hayley is ‘Trash Talking Mama’ on Instagram, you can find her here.
From Hayley …
Did you know that sour cream and yoghurt pottles are made of polystyrene and therefore not a kind of plastic that can go in your kerbside recycling? This is purely so that they are brittle enough to be able to snap apart in multi-packs and sadly this means they are destined for landfill.
Recycling is a large, confusing topic so I am continuing from last month and also into next month but will focus now on plastics since it’s Plastic Free July.
If it’s packaging for a grocery item, is rigid and numbered 1-5 or 7 then it currently has the green light for kerbside recycling in Auckland. Soft plastic wrapping that can be scrunched into a ball can’t go in your recycling bin but rather into collection points like can be found at The Warehouse and some supermarkets.
Not all plastics have a demand for them because some are more difficult to recycle than others, which is why Sprite is moving away from its iconic green bottles and why some plastics will be banned next year. This will include some ‘bioplastics’ and commercially ‘compostable’ plastics which have relied on ill-defined classifications to greenwash their synthetic blended products. As of this month, many single use plastics are fortunately being phased out, including straws, tableware, cutlery, produce bags and fruit stickers.
As depicted, sleeves from bottles should be removed and discarded so that the optical sensors in the sorting machinery can recognise the plastic of the bottle. Leave lids on containers and bottles in Auckland, excluding Great Barrier Island where the lids go in your rubbish bag.
Sadly, used plant pots are not accepted due to the risk of soil contamination when plastic bundles are shipped overseas but Plant Barn have collection stations for re-use. Small pill containers, like the one pictured, are too small and light to be accurately recognised by the necessary machines so are also declined.
Please note, recycling is an energy-intensive and polluting process so should not be deemed a solution to our plastic problem. Taking measures to reduce your use of resources is the way forward so why not give that a go this Plastic Free July!
About The Author: Triona
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