Recycling at Home: What do we need to do?

For most of us, our responsibility towards recycling seems to be done the moment we put the respective items in a recycling bin, sounds right yeah?. The items from these bins are taken to sorting stations and recyclable materials are then sorted into respective types using a combination of both manual as well as automated processes.

Do all these items get recycled? Are they sorted perfectly? The answer is NO! Several of the items present in the bins are pre-contaminated with leftover food and residual material from within. Another significant issue is closed plastic bags with things inside them. It could contain a milk carton half full of milk gone bad, or yogurt and food containers with spoilt and rotten food inside them. These raise health and safety concerns for the people who manually pick them. If you were working there, you would not pick dirty items having rotten food inside them, why should they!

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So how can we contribute on a personal level to better recycle? For starters, one can start by emptying the food/beverage containers and at rinsing them at least once before chucking them into recycling bins. We can get into the habit of carrying their own lunch containers or coffee mugs when we go out. Clearing out leftover pizza from the pizza boxes and most importantly, not putting all the plastic items in a plastic bag and closing it. 

 

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Plastic is one of the most versatile and functional material that is available in today’s world and removing it entirely from our lifestyle is near-impossible. The least we can do is to bring about a change in our attitude towards the way we consume products containing plastics and replacing these with alternative sustainable and organic materials. 

  

Below is a detailed guide to Recycling better provided by the Auckland Council:

https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/rubbish-recycling/rubbish-recycling-collections/Documents/recycling-guide.pdf