Our lazy recycling habits have cost our local councils’ hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

For the majority of Kiwis, we do our part to recycle our waste correctly. However, there is still a large number of us that need to take a good hard look at ourselves.

Recycling operators are left astonished and shocked by the number of things they witness that have been "recycled" ranging from microwaves to pieces of clothing and even, dead cats! 

Auckland Councillor Richard Hills states that Auckland Council is "having to separate that all out and that's costly, and then land filling it is also another cost to that." In fact, Auckland Council spent $420,000 alone due to our lazy recycling habits. Wellington Council, on the other hand, spent $470,000, which jumped from its' previous yearly figure.

However, what's concerning are the costs that Christchurch Council had to pay. Last year, contaminated recycling cost them $12,000 yet when compared to the cost within the past 6 weeks, it's unbelievable that they spent a whopping $330,000!

Recycling is not a complex process, but it is made complex when we do not follow the guidelines on how to do it correctly. Take a look at your local councils recycling guide and see if there are any of those debatable products that you may have been throwing in the recycling bin that shouldn’t be, and hopefully we can reduce the costs of the recycling process and lead to a more efficient and sustainable operation.