Sorting it

There is a strong case to collect more food waste in New Zealand. By doing so we can make a signiﬁcant reduction to the amount of waste we are currently sending to landﬁll.

Reducing what goes to landﬁll is better for the environment because landﬁll generates methane which is a rather potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

A UK study* has concluded that collecting general household waste less often and actually collecting food waste more often, shows an increase in both dry food waste and recyclable collectables. Yet if we can separate out this food waste and compost it, then it makes a great addition to compost that can be used on gardens.

Collecting food waste separately from green waste is usually cheaper because you can use smaller trucks to collect it frequently (e.g. weekly), while garden waste can be collected less often (e.g. monthly).

Also, if they are collected separately then most of the garden waste does not have to go through the more expensive process and can be composted much more cheaply.

Earthcare Environmental has implemented a trial food waste recycling system in Putaruru. Find out more about this trial.

* Source: WRAP, Sustainable ways of dealing with household food and garden waste in the UK, May 2007

Recycling Tips

Your local council will most likely provide a kerbside recycling service. If not, take your recyclables to your local recycling depot.

Here are some simple recycling tips:

Plastics: Wash and remove lids of plastic bottles and containers marked with a triangular recycling symbol 1 to 7 such as soft drink and milk bottles, shampoo and cream bottles.
Paper: Keep and recycle all clean and dry newspaper, magazines, mixed paper, cardboard and telephone books. Clean and flatten cardboard milk and juice cartons.
Glass: Wash green, clear and brown glass bottles and jars and be sure to remove lids.
Cans: Wash steel and aluminum cans and remove the paper labels where possible.