After leaving your kerbside recycling bin or local resource recovery centre, all recycling from Nelson and Tasman is taken to our Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Richmond. The MRF separates paper and cardboard, plastics, aluminium and tins and bales them up ready for transporting.
The MRF even utilises optical sorting and machine learning to recognise the different types of plastic and sort them into separate compartments - it's pretty cool! To see the MRF in action, check out the video below.
Where does our recycling end up?
After leaving the MRF, different materials are sent to different places for processing into new products. This can change from time to time if we experience an over-supply, meaning that new markets may need to be found. But as a general rule:
Glass goes to Auckland for reprocessing into glass bottles
Transparent plastics (number 1) go to Flight Plastics – a division of Pact Packaging in Wellington for reprocessing into food containers
Plastics 2 and 5 go to Christchurch for reprocessing into base material for reuse into new products
Mixed paper and cardboard and baled tins/aluminium cans are usually processed offshore
How can we keep our recycling high quality?
It's important that we all do the mahi to keep our recycling of a high quality. That means:
Rinse dirty containers and bottles
Remove lids
Only put recyclable items in your yellow bin - plastics numbered 1, 2 or 5; clean cardboard and paper; clean aluminium or tin cans
Glass goes in your blue crate – keep this out of your yellow bin
If in doubt, keep it out! Put items you’re not sure about in the landfill bin to reduce risk of contamination.
Why aren’t lids recyclable?
Lids go in your landfill bag or bin because they can get stuck in the machines at the MRF. They’re often made from a different type of plastic from the bottle they’re attached to, which causes contamination.
Items to watch out for
Some commonly mistaken items that are not recyclable include:
takeaway coffee cups and lids
used paper towels (put these in your compost instead)
tetra pak (e.g. juice boxes, almond/oat/soy milk cartons)
plastics marked as “compostable” are not recyclable. Only plastics numbered 1, 2, 5 are recyclable in Nelson and Tasman. If you can’t find a number, put it in your landfill bin (and see if you can find an alternative product that is reusable or recyclable!)
