Expert calls for less packaging as Whanganui recycling tops 1000 tonnes

The council says there is a 70% participation rate for Whanganui's kerbside service. Photo / Mike Tweed

Whanganui’s kerbside recycling service has collected more than 1000 tonnes of materials, but an expert who helped set it up says people can do more in the fight against waste.

Kate Fenwick, owner of Waste-Ed with Kate, said avoiding plastic where possible was a good start.

“I feel for us as consumers because there’s not a lot that isn’t packaged these days,” she said.

“One example is the apples that come in that stupid plastic tube.

“It does my head in. Like, why? Just buy some apples.”

She said buying meat directly from a local butcher meant it was wrapped in paper instead of a single-use plastic tray.

“Aluminium is infinitely recyclable back into aluminium, and it’s the same for glass.

“Personally, I’m more inclined to buy a box of cans of drink, as opposed to plastic bottles.”

Fenwick said recycling could only happen “if you do it right”.

“If you’re not going to wash your bottles and take the lids off, don’t bother recycling.

“The consumer needs to do the job.

“You bought the product, so it’s 1000% your responsibility to prepare it properly.”

Whanganui should stick to its three-crate recycling system instead of closed-lid bins, she said.

In Tararua, recycling was done with closed-lid bins and materials were hand-sorted by the truckload rather than at the kerbside.

“When I was there, there was four bags of rubbish instantly,” Fenwick said.

“Bags ripped apart and you’ve got bacon and maggots and all this stuff. It’s contaminated.”

Whanganui District Council waste manager Morgan Harrison said 70% of households in the Whanganui network were participating in the service and there had been very little contamination in crates so far.

“The feedback from the team at Low Cost Bins is that most people have been doing a great job separating their recycling and putting the right things in their crates,” she said.

“There are still a few issues popping up with some households not separating correctly - or including things like lids and laminated food and beverage cartons like Tetra Pak which can’t be recycled at kerbside.

“And, of course, the wind can be an issue - especially when crates are stacked three-high or over-filled.”

Fenwick said wheelie bins filled with recycling also blew over in the wind.

“Common sense tells you to only put heavy stuff out on a windy day.

“The good thing about crates is less contamination.

“With closed bins, you can hide stuff in there, and people do.”

The council’s waste plan aims to divert 15,000 tonnes of waste from landfill by 2027.

Last July, the first month of the Whanganui kerbside service, 74.64 tonnes of materials were sent to processing plants.

That increased to 154 tonnes in December.

Kate Fenwick says Whanganui should stick with its three-crate kerbside recycling system.

Fenwick said she was in the Whanganui district last month and took a tour with the council’s litter team.

“People had left couches and tyres on the side of the road.

“Council tidies up the berms and, at the end of the day, that costs ratepayers to get rid of it.

“It’s sad that it has to be policed, and that some people don’t like to take responsibility.”

The Resource Recovery Centre in Whanganui accepts tyres through the Tyrewise scheme.

Earlier this year, Whanganui’s council ended the rollout of its kerbside food scraps service following the cancellation of the previous Government’s mandatory food scraps requirements.

Fenwick said she was disappointed by the Government’s decision but home composting was not hard.

“Obviously, you’ve got your old school compost bins, but it’s really important to layer them properly to get the right amount of nitrogen and carbon in there.

“Then there are worm farms. Make sure you don’t put in a lot of citrus, bread or meat.”

Her recommendation for households was a Bokashi bin - “you can put pretty much anything in them”.

“You get a little bit of zing in there, it looks like sawdust but it’s a micro-organism and, once the bin is full, you leave it for two weeks.”

The bin could be emptied into a trench with the waste covered over.

“I always planted on top of that,” Fenwick said.

“It’s a really good system if you’ve got bones and fish heads and stuff like that.”

A council spokesperson said as of March 31, Low Cost Bins had collected more than one million kilograms - 1000 tonnes - of recyclable material through the kerbside service since it started last July.

Whanganui was one of the few districts offering weekly recycling collection, with most others fortnightly, Fenwick said.

“If you’re filling three crates every single week, you might need to look at reducing packaging.

“It’s all about reduction. There is still a lot of stuff that can’t be recycled.”

The kerbside service costs ratepayers in the network about $2.75 a week.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.