Bryce Galloway has had a good response to the lightbulb recycling. Photo / Leanne Warr
Bryce Galloway has had a good response to the lightbulb recycling. Photo / Leanne Warr
Mitre 10 has been encouraging sustainability through recycling and its customers are getting fully on board with it.
The lightbulb recycling programme has been going nationwide since April and Dannevirke Mitre 10 manager Bryce Galloway said there had been a "pretty good" response from the community.
He said the keydriver behind the programme was reducing the amount going to landfill and recycling as many old lightbulbs as possible.
While it was not for those bulbs in commercial use, residents could bring in any traditional household fluorescent or LED bulbs to be recycled.
With climate change and sustainability being key issues, Mitre 10 had been looking into ways to reduce the impact on the environment and had partnered up with another company that specialised in recycling items that couldn't be recycled by councils.
In recycling lightbulbs, the material could be repurposed, such as the glass being made into insulation or mercury being used in the dental industry.
While it would depend on the bulb, as much as 100 per cent of the materials could be recycled, Galloway said.
He said Mitre 10 was doing what was called "product stewardship", in which a company or manufacturer took responsibility for the full life cycle of a product, recovered it and used to create a new product.
It meant that instead of products being "throwaways" and being sent to landfills, they could be repurposed.
Judy Partridge in the garden centre with the pots to be recycled. Photo / Leanne Warr
The lightbulb recycling programme was not the only one Mitre 10 was doing as it was also recycling plastic plant pots.
Galloway said 38 stores nationwide were involved in it and so far 9326.5kg had been collected.
"Of that, 1864kg has been diverted from landfill.
"I think it's a great initiative."
Mitre 10 also had other initiatives it was considering, such as recycling stations.
It was all about finding practical solutions to the disposal of unwanted plastics and other materials, instead of taking them to landfill, Galloway said.
