Why and What to do with Yogurt and Ice Cream Plastic (type 5) Containers

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sJBs

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#289779 28-Sep-2021 22:23

Can anyone shed some light on what to do with yogurt and ice cream type 5 plastic containers as most councils only recycle type 1&2 plastics?

Also, why don't they manufacture these from something recyclable, at least type 1 or 2 plastics in the first place?

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#2785951 28-Sep-2021 22:42

Ship them to a friend in Wellington where they do recycle type 5? 😆

Oblivian

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#2785976 28-Sep-2021 23:42

1/2/5 in canterbury

With the downside they replaced all the employed sorters with an expensive machine that instead is a bit dumb and can't tell a bit of paper from a metal lid etc. Or a small pottle from a can. So small stuff and lids excluded to stop contamination and load up the landfill.

davidcole

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#2786049 29-Sep-2021 06:48

Sounds like a question that might be worthy of fair go.

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sbiddle

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#2786052 29-Sep-2021 07:12

I thought most councils had started taking type 5 now. Lower Hutt started this year and from something I read at the time was one of the last.

Where are you located?

sJBs

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#2786057 29-Sep-2021 07:42

We're located in Napier. Seems like it will just take some time to reach us. Glad they are finally doing 5's elsewhere.

cshwone

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#2786058 29-Sep-2021 07:48

I recycle by use in the workshop - clearly labelled for nails, screws, bolts, anchors etc ie all the little bits you can't find.

1101

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#2786082 29-Sep-2021 09:18

honestly. Throw it in the trash. Thats where alot of it ends up anyway.

Recycling isnt the clean green process we seem to think.
And a lot of plastic sent for recycling isnt recycled. Ak has huge stores of plastic waiting to be recycled , as there is literally very little use for it .

NZ used to send it overseas . Just moving the issue to another country .
Want to solve the issue , dont buy the stuff to start with .

Lets stop pretending .

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davidcole

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#2786092 29-Sep-2021 09:44

1101:

honestly. Throw it in the trash. Thats where alot of it ends up anyway.

Recycling isnt the clean green process we seem to think.
And a lot of plastic sent for recycling isnt recycled. Ak has huge stores of plastic waiting to be recycled , as there is literally very little use for it .

NZ used to send it overseas . Just moving the issue to another country .
Want to solve the issue , dont buy the stuff to start with .

Lets stop pretending .

I agree to a degree. Mostly with this:

"Want to solve the issue , dont buy the stuff to start with ."

But how do we tell manufacturers, we don't want plastic any more. ie milk bottles, glass instead of plastic - which can be recycled but not the lids (at least here in lower hutt).

cshwone

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#2786099 29-Sep-2021 10:04

davidcole:

milk bottles, glass instead of plastic - which can be recycled but not the lids (at least here in lower hutt).

Going back to my youth in the UK I think we actually had far smarter recycling of glass bottles in that, for example, milk was delivered in glass bottles, you left the empties out for pick up back to the dairy where they were washed and reused. Soft drink bottles had a deposit on them, when you returned them to the shop you got that money back, the shop then returned them to the drinks people who again washed and reused.

Alas, the convenience of plastic took over with little thought of the future impact.

To a small extent here in NZ that model still exists with the big bottles of beer in crates which go through the process of reusing. Pity it wasn't more widespread with other products.

alavaliant

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#2786101 29-Sep-2021 10:16

I too wish there was a way I could tell manufacturers I wanted glass over plastic. I'd quite happily even pay a little extra to get my milk in a glass bottle that was going to be taken back and reused.

alasta

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#2786168 29-Sep-2021 10:56

cshwone:

Going back to my youth in the UK I think we actually had far smarter recycling of glass bottles in that, for example, milk was delivered in glass bottles, you left the empties out for pick up back to the dairy where they were washed and reused.

We used to have this in NZ up until the late 80s if I recall correctly. You would put your empty bottles at the front gate with some money in them, and the milkman would swap them for full ones.

As time went on it became increasingly common for the money to get stolen, so eventually they introduced little plastic prepaid tokens instead!

Man I feel old.

davidcole

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#2786184 29-Sep-2021 11:11

alasta:

cshwone:

Going back to my youth in the UK I think we actually had far smarter recycling of glass bottles in that, for example, milk was delivered in glass bottles, you left the empties out for pick up back to the dairy where they were washed and reused.

We used to have this in NZ up until the late 80s if I recall correctly. You would put your empty bottles at the front gate with some money in them, and the milkman would swap them for full ones.

As time went on it became increasingly common for the money to get stolen, so eventually they introduced little plastic prepaid tokens instead!

Man I feel old.

You can do some of this now with some of the bottled milk places. Ie Eketahuna meats do milk deliveries and include glass bottles. And I think Jersey Girl as well.

ilovemusic

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#2786367 29-Sep-2021 14:39

alasta:

cshwone:

Going back to my youth in the UK I think we actually had far smarter recycling of glass bottles in that, for example, milk was delivered in glass bottles, you left the empties out for pick up back to the dairy where they were washed and reused.

We used to have this in NZ up until the late 80s if I recall correctly. You would put your empty bottles at the front gate with some money in them, and the milkman would swap them for full ones.

As time went on it became increasingly common for the money to get stolen, so eventually they introduced little plastic prepaid tokens instead!

Man I feel old.

I remember those tokens.

All it would take is a little water in the bottle and the tokens would be stuck fast

😄

FineWine

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#2786396 29-Sep-2021 15:13

From the Tauranga Council Kerbside Collections website

This all started this year.

Why can we now accept #5 plastics?
There is now a long-term local sustainable market for plastic grade 5. This means that there is a company who wants to take #5 plastics and turn them into something new e.g. a park bench. Previously, there were not many options for #5 plastics, or the company collecting was limited in what they could take. Also, the Material Recycling Facility (where recycling is sorted) is receiving some upgrades, making it easier for people on the sorting line to identify #5 plastics.

Why can’t we collect plastics 3, 4, 6 and 7 for recycling?
We don't currently have the facilities in NZ to cost-effectively recycle grades 3, 4, 6 and 7 plastics, and we can't guarantee we can send it overseas to be recycled either. Most council’s in NZ are moving away from collecting plastic grades 3, 4, 6 and 7, due to not having a sustainable solution for these materials.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

vexxxboy

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#2786416 29-Sep-2021 16:03

FineWine:

From the Tauranga Council Kerbside Collections website

This all started this year.

Why can we now accept #5 plastics?
There is now a long-term local sustainable market for plastic grade 5. This means that there is a company who wants to take #5 plastics and turn them into something new e.g. a park bench. Previously, there were not many options for #5 plastics, or the company collecting was limited in what they could take. Also, the Material Recycling Facility (where recycling is sorted) is receiving some upgrades, making it easier for people on the sorting line to identify #5 plastics.

Why can’t we collect plastics 3, 4, 6 and 7 for recycling?
We don't currently have the facilities in NZ to cost-effectively recycle grades 3, 4, 6 and 7 plastics, and we can't guarantee we can send it overseas to be recycled either. Most council’s in NZ are moving away from collecting plastic grades 3, 4, 6 and 7, due to not having a sustainable solution for these materials.

i guess Rotorua hasn't got the memo yet as they take plastics from 1-7 and it is only plastic bags they dont want

Common sense is not as common as you think.

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