Recycling bin contents under council scrutiny

Dunedin City Council waste minimisation officer Cath Gledhill checks out a bin as part of a programme to make sure only correct recyclable items are put in them. Photo: Peter McIntosh
Dunedin City Council waste minimisation officer Cath Gledhill checks out a bin as part of a programme to make sure only correct recyclable items are put in them. Photo: Peter McIntosh
Shadowy figures by your recycling bin early in the morning are going through your waste, but fear not; they are from the council, not some covert spy agency.

The Dunedin City Council this week began inspecting recycling bins in the city, checking the contents after ''contamination'' rose from 5.7% in 2010-11 to 11% in 2016-17.

Early results showed mostly high levels of compliance, but also incidents where rubbish, including used nappies, had been thrown where only recyclables should go.

The inspections will run for 12 weeks, and were intended to help people improve their recycling, reduce contamination and keep the staff who collect and sort recycling safe.

Tags would be left on bins, green for correct recycling and orange for bins with some incorrect items.

Bins with red tags would not be emptied, and a letter with further guidance left for the resident.

In those cases, hazardous material would need to be removed, and the bin put out the next collection day.

If the material was still there on the third visit, the bin may be removed and the service unavailable for three months.

Solid waste manager Catherine Irvine said one incorrect item often seen was plastic bags.

''Many people don't realise that we can't accept plastic bags in the yellow-lidded recycling bins because they get tangled in the machinery at the sorting facility,'' she said.

Other items that should not go in the bins were disposable coffee cups, polystyrene and juice boxes, the latter ''a common one we see''.

It was, however, ''only a small minority of people who put general waste or hazardous materials in their recycling bins''.

''Hazards like needles can put collection and sorting staff at risk.

Inspectors would not go through bins item by item, she said.

''It literally is a lift of the lid and a bit of a look around.''

It was usually possible to tell ''pretty quickly'' if the recycling bin was being used as a rubbish bin.

''Thank you'' stickers would be put on bins with the correct recycling in them.

Waste minimisation officer Cath Gledhill said yesterday some bins had been found to have ''nothing recyclable'' in them.

Fortunately, ''that at the moment is proving to be very rare''.

The inspections were not for every home, but a random selection of properties.

Each would be inspected three times, where possible.

Ms Irvine said the council delivered calendars and new recycling information stickers at the start of the year and if people were missing those they should contact the council for a replacement.

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