Council recycling.....

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nigelj

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#1178057 18-Nov-2014 17:44

Bung:
nigelj:
xpd: Anyone know why this is ?

I suspect I do...
Whangaparaoa recycling is likely still served under the Rodney District Council contract/tender for recycling and is yet to be superseded by a 'Super city common process' (so to speak). As far as I recall there are also certain recyclable codes that the current contractor does not like (the high numbers). Good thing is, if you need a second bin, I seem to recall that the RDC used to let you have one if you rang up nicely and asked.

To put the craziness of the RDC contractor in perspective here is one example that bugged us for ages.... They refused to take bags of newspaper etc if they saw there was shiny (printed) cardboard in the bundle, i.e. breakfast cereal boxes, empty cartons etc. Even though the RDC documentation said all collapsed cardboard. Solution was simple, just invert the boxes so they couldn't see the shiny side.

Was it printed cardboard or the plastic coated stuff used for drink cartons etc?

Paper in a plastic bag would stay together and dry. There probably isn't much market for soggy paper.

Wgtn take all plastic apart from cling or polystyrene.

No, not the Tetra style cardboard, actual cardboard (as I said, cereal boxes, beer cartons etc).

Athlonite

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#1178121 18-Nov-2014 20:29

I now refuse to recycle when they told me the stuff was to unsorted ummmm that's your job bozzo not mine I got better things to do with my time than do half your job for you. So now it all just goes in the rubbish bag

ckc

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#1178164 18-Nov-2014 22:02

Athlonite: I now refuse to recycle when they told me the stuff was to unsorted ummmm that's your job bozzo not mine I got better things to do with my time than do half your job for you. So now it all just goes in the rubbish bag

I tried that.

But then my partner told me to get over myself, and that it wasn't about me, it was about conserving and reusing resources and doing a small part to make a better world.

I'm not being passive aggressive, that's actually what she said to me.

Elpie

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#1178166 18-Nov-2014 22:11

Athlonite: I now refuse to recycle when they told me the stuff was to unsorted ummmm that's your job bozzo not mine I got better things to do with my time than do half your job for you. So now it all just goes in the rubbish bag

The one flaw I see with this is that you are paying them to do their job. The more work and workers needed to do it, the more you end up paying. Some councils identify the recycling charge in their rates demands, some don't. All ratepayers pay for it and all ratepaying landlords factor it in when calculating their rents.

Athlonite

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#1178223 19-Nov-2014 05:12

ckc:
Athlonite: I now refuse to recycle when they told me the stuff was to unsorted ummmm that's your job bozzo not mine I got better things to do with my time than do half your job for you. So now it all just goes in the rubbish bag

I tried that.

But then my partner told me to get over myself, and that it wasn't about me, it was about conserving and reusing resources and doing a small part to make a better world.

I'm not being passive aggressive, that's actually what she said to me.

Funny thing that the world will still be here long after we are gone unless ofcourse we figure out how to blow up a planet anytime soon

ckc

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#1178324 19-Nov-2014 09:40

Athlonite:

Funny thing that the world will still be here long after we are gone unless ofcourse we figure out how to blow up a planet anytime soon

Yep, and so will the moon. That doesn't mean humans will be able to live on either.

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Geektastic

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#1179501 19-Nov-2014 13:10

xpd: In Whangaparaoa, we have two recycle runs, one for paper and one for plastic/glass.

Paper - any paper/cardboard - must be put into a plastic "Foodtown" bag or wont be taken. So even if I stack the paper altogether nicely and tie it up with string or some other environmentally friendly material, or even have it all in a small cardboard box, they refuse to take it.

Plastic/glass - must be put into the blue bins and be "clean" (can kind of understand that). Some weekends we have friends around and the bins get full, so we put the excess into bags. They wont take the bags.

It seems completely stupid to me, putting paper recycling into a plastic bag, and refusing to take plastic with other plastic......

Anyone know why this is ?

We don't get recycling or rubbish collection. We pay a private company to empty our bins.

My view has always been that where I pay to have rubbish removed (be it by the council or a private firm) I won't also provide a free rubbish sorting service. That is what I am paying them for - to take it away. If they want to play with it and sort it they are free to do so. If they want me to do it, I'll charge for my time at my usual rate.

ckc

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#1179535 19-Nov-2014 13:51

Kapiti has no council rubbish collection. They issue licences to a number of different private companies. You either hire a bin from them, or buy one of their bags at the supermarket. That means that on collection day, you have three different operators all covering exactly the same routes at different times of the day, collecting rubbish that goes to the same place.

This is from a council that spent something like $200k on an electric rubbish truck, trying to be the most sustainable council in NZ. Then they privatised it a few months later, and now these three operators all drive diesel trucks around the same routes collecting waste. I think this electric truck is used for the recycling, which is still done by the council. But don't quote me on that. It's a guess because the electric truck is only a 9 tonner, all recycling goes in the council bin, and I'm not standing at the end of the driveway all morning to find out.

Of course, you go to the transfer station at Otaihanga and you see what happens to your recycling - piles of metal and plastic that only ever seem to grow. That's because it all gets sent overseas to be processed (probably a lot of money to be made from setting up a processing facility in NZ if someone was to invest the capital) and overseas buyers like to drive down the price. So nothing happens to it until it's cost effective to move it. That's not unique to Kapiti though.

I've seen a couple of very clever facilities in the UK while we were trying to find a supplier that passed our council's green audit requirements. The overall investment wasn't that big on the part of the companies involved, and it's certainly not beyond companies operating here, but if you can ship it to China instead then what the hell if it piles up for a year before you shift it. At least you didn't have to do anything.

mattwnz

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#1179540 19-Nov-2014 13:57

ckc: Kapiti has no council rubbish collection. They issue licences to a number of different private companies. You either hire a bin from them, or buy one of their bags at the supermarket. That means that on collection day, you have three different operators all covering exactly the same routes at different times of the day, collecting rubbish that goes to the same place.

This is from a council that spent something like $200k on an electric rubbish truck, trying to be the most sustainable council in NZ. Then they privatised it a few months later, and now these three operators all drive diesel trucks around the same routes collecting waste. I think this electric truck is used for the recycling, which is still done by the council. But don't quote me on that. It's a guess because the electric truck is only a 9 tonner, all recycling goes in the council bin, and I'm not standing at the end of the driveway all morning to find out.

Of course, you go to the transfer station at Otaihanga and you see what happens to your recycling - piles of metal and plastic that only ever seem to grow. That's because it all gets sent overseas to be processed (probably a lot of money to be made from setting up a processing facility in NZ if someone was to invest the capital) and overseas buyers like to drive down the price. So nothing happens to it until it's cost effective to move it. That's not unique to Kapiti though.

I've seen a couple of very clever facilities in the UK while we were trying to find a supplier that passed our council's green audit requirements. The overall investment wasn't that big on the part of the companies involved, and it's certainly not beyond companies operating here, but if you can ship it to China instead then what the hell if it piles up for a year before you shift it. At least you didn't have to do anything.

Bring on a Superity, and get rid of these small councils.

Geektastic

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#1179726 19-Nov-2014 16:57

ckc: Kapiti has no council rubbish collection. They issue licences to a number of different private companies. You either hire a bin from them, or buy one of their bags at the supermarket. That means that on collection day, you have three different operators all covering exactly the same routes at different times of the day, collecting rubbish that goes to the same place.

This is from a council that spent something like $200k on an electric rubbish truck, trying to be the most sustainable council in NZ. Then they privatised it a few months later, and now these three operators all drive diesel trucks around the same routes collecting waste. I think this electric truck is used for the recycling, which is still done by the council. But don't quote me on that. It's a guess because the electric truck is only a 9 tonner, all recycling goes in the council bin, and I'm not standing at the end of the driveway all morning to find out.

Of course, you go to the transfer station at Otaihanga and you see what happens to your recycling - piles of metal and plastic that only ever seem to grow. That's because it all gets sent overseas to be processed (probably a lot of money to be made from setting up a processing facility in NZ if someone was to invest the capital) and overseas buyers like to drive down the price. So nothing happens to it until it's cost effective to move it. That's not unique to Kapiti though.

I've seen a couple of very clever facilities in the UK while we were trying to find a supplier that passed our council's green audit requirements. The overall investment wasn't that big on the part of the companies involved, and it's certainly not beyond companies operating here, but if you can ship it to China instead then what the hell if it piles up for a year before you shift it. At least you didn't have to do anything.

I think there are even power stations in the UK that burn rubbish.

ckc

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#1179731 19-Nov-2014 17:07

Geektastic:

I think there are even power stations in the UK that burn rubbish.

There are, and they are very cool. They can also heat nearby homes with the heat energy.

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richms

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#1179736 19-Nov-2014 17:17

Elpie:
Athlonite: I now refuse to recycle when they told me the stuff was to unsorted ummmm that's your job bozzo not mine I got better things to do with my time than do half your job for you. So now it all just goes in the rubbish bag

The one flaw I see with this is that you are paying them to do their job. The more work and workers needed to do it, the more you end up paying. Some councils identify the recycling charge in their rates demands, some don't. All ratepayers pay for it and all ratepaying landlords factor it in when calculating their rents.

I would rather pay someone a low wage to do work like that than do it myself.

Richard rich.ms

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