Five surprise things you CAN’T recycle

Often when I’m putting out my recycling I look into my bin and wonder if everything in it can really be recycled. Knowing what to put in your kerbside recycling bin can be confusing and sometimes, despite the best of intentions it can lead to problems at the recycling facility later down the track. So I decided to do a little research to satisfy my own curiosity and help you guys out.

Kerbside recycling in New Zealand is constantly changing with new innovations in the pipeline all the time. The situation also varies around the country. What may be accepted in kerbside recycling in one part of the country may not be accepted in another. So if you’re unsure about whether or not something can be recycled, it’s always best to check with your local council first.

I’ve put together a handy list of five things to avoid putting in the recycling, and some ideas on what you can do with them instead:

Pizza Boxes: Pizza boxes are made from cardboard that is recyclable, but the oil from pizzas can contaminate the cardboard, making it impossible to process them into clean paper. If your pizza box has a lot of oil or cheese on it, it’s probably best not to put it in your recycling bin.

A great alternative to sending these items to the landfill is to rip them up and place them in your compost or worm farm. There are also some useful ideas on the internet on ways you can recycle them.

Shredded Paper: Although shredding your confidential documents makes a lot of sense, it also makes it difficult for them to be sorted at the recycling facility. Did you know that recyclables are sorted by hand at most facilities around New Zealand?

Try donating your shredded paper to the SPCA or your local pet store (just make sure there are no staples in it!) Otherwise the paper can go in your compost or worm bin, or be used as handy packing material for boxes.

Plastic Caps: While plastic bottles can often be recycled, the lids that come with them are sometimes made of a different plastic. Often the lids can’t be recycled (with the exception of plastic milk bottle lids), so always check first whether they have a plastic identification number of them.

If you’re creatively minded, check out this site for what you can do with some of those old caps.

Plastic Bags: Many councils won’t accept these as part of kerbside recycling (though some councils such as Christchurch City do). There are a number of reasons why councils will not accept plastic bags, including issues of contamination with other recyclables, which makes sorting very difficult.

Thankfully there are lots of other things you can do with these troublesome plastic bags. Keep them around the house for mucky tasks, or see if your local supermarket has a place you can recycle them. Better yet, take a reusable bag when you go shopping and say no to them in the first place.

Styrofoam and Polystyrene: These types of plastics often can’t go into your kerbside recycling. Polystyrene breaks apart, contaminate other recyclables and generally cause problems. Some areas (for example Porirua and Auckland) do have facilities for recycling polystyrene, so check with your local Council.

Try and see if you can find a use for it around the home. Otherwise try listing your old polystyrene on freecycle.org or check out these cool ideas. As they say, one person’s trash is another’s treasure! Ideally see if you can find a product with no packaging or more sustainable packaging before you buy.

What do you guys think? Any other suggestions of what to do with these tricky unrecyclables?