The owners of a new state-of-the art recycling plant have confirmed that compared with the rest of the world, we really are tidy Kiwis.
Since the recycling wheelie bins were introduced in Auckland and Manukau two months ago, residents have increased their effort by 27 percent.
86 thousand tonnes of waste went to the landfill in Auckland last year. That is equal in weight to more than 20 thousand trucks.
This year the Auckland and Manukau City Councils hope to halve the amount sent to the dump, and sophisticated technology at new recycling plants is the key.
“It's more advanced in terms of the actual types of sorting heads that we're using than anything we've got anywhere in the world,” says Lee Smith, from Visy.
The machine uses infra-red technology which sorts paper from plastic, and it can even detect what kind of plastic it is.
The Australian-based recycling company says in these initial stages, New Zealanders have proven far better at recycling than their Aussie neighbours.
“Well of course I’m not surprised. We're much much brighter than the average Australian as you clearly understand and consequently we would expect a greater outcome than any Australian city,” says Auckland’s Mayor John Banks.
But some non-recyclable items still get through.
“We aim for something under 10 percent, we aim for about 8 percent, that's total material coming through that's non-complying or maybe something that just doesn't get sorted into the right area but we're hitting under four percent here,” says Lee Smith.
After sorting the material is re-used by packaging companies.
The company hopes to eventually invest in more plants throughout the country.
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