Life and times of a milk bottle

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By Allison Rudd on Thu, 29 Jan 2009
Magazine | Environment | Green Print
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1.Milk containers sit in a blue bin waiting to be picked up by Dunedin City Council recycling contractors Waste Management Ltd, a subsidiary of Transpacific Industries Group NZ Ltd. An estimated 18-24 tonnes of milk containers are collected every week and recycled by a team of about 40 drivers, runners and sorters. 2. Recycling runner Ken McDonald loads containers into a recycling truck. Nine trucks operate through metropolitan Dunedin and outlying areas Monday to Friday. The trucks roll every day of the year bar two - Christmas Day and Good Friday. 3. Milk containers waiting to be processed at the Transpacific sorting station in Wickliffe St, in Dunedin's harbourside industrial area. 4.Milk containers are fed on to the sorting station conveyor belt. 5. Transpacific staff members (from left) Steve Kannewischer, Dunedin operations manager Allen Nesbit and Angela Stewart, sort recyclables. There are separate bins for paper, cardboard, tin cans, aluminium cans, glass, four different types of plastics, and rubbish which cannot be recycled. 6. It's only mid-day, and there is already a large pile of milk containers at the sorting station. 7. Transpacific Industries Group Dunedin operations manager Allen Nesbit examines milk containers waiting to be shipped to China. Up to 20 40ft container loads of all plastics leave Dunedin annually, an extremely small amount in the global recycled plastic market.
 

Plastic milk containers make up about 15-20% of the items recycled through Dunedin City Council "blue bins". Staff writer Allison Rudd follows a container through its journey from fridge to container ship.

Milk containers and other types of plastics are shipped from Port Chalmers to mainland China via Hong Kong.

The plastic is washed, flaked and processed into tiny plastic beads which are used to manufacture other plastic products including polar fleece, a synthetic fabric used for clothing and blankets.

Photos by Peter McIntosh; prints available from otagoimages.co.nz.

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