Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
nz
Influences upon our growing Composite or mixed materials are sale these days are designed for involves transport of the materials,
wastefulness (To waste is a verb!) becoming more common in repair or renewal by the user, and kept separate from other ‘rubbish’. NZ
packaging. These include wax on more are designed for short-term Government has a target of 60%
Here’s a range of examples for group cardboard cartons, and plastic film and ‘fashionable’ use followed by disposal green wastes diverted from landfill.
discussion – you could add to this list. foil bonded onto paper, making a (and, the manufacturer and retailers
packaging that’s strong and lightweight hope, by prompt replacement with new
We live busy lives and seek to transport, but hard to recycle. Some items). Examples range from
convenience and speed, which labels on plastic containers are a disposable plastic pens and razors to
sometimes comes in the form of pre- different plastic from the container. babies’ nappies, toys and those
cooked or processed foods, which Other examples of mixed packaging electronic goods labelled ‘sealed -
have to be kept fresh and safe by their materials are ‘blister packs’ of clear unserviceable’.
packaging. We do not see the waste plastic glued to bar-code printed card,
that’s involved in their manufacture. on items that traditionally were sold Daily newspapers accumulate fast.
loose. Supermarkets drove this trend. Every tonne recycled saves 17 trees
By comparison, home-made food from and 26,000 litres of water in the
fresh ingredients involves less papermaking process.
packaging. Food scraps such as veg
Compost ingredients: a 2 to 1 mix by volume
peelings can be composted or fed to Typically, 45% of domestic rubbish is
of browns (e.g. autumn leaves, straw) and
worms or fermented in a bucket under garden and kitchen material (known greens (e.g. vegetable peelings, grass), plus
the workbench using EM Bokashi. as green waste or organic waste) that air, a little water, helpful insects, fungi and
natural systems could break down into bacteria, for a natural decay process, aided
useful nutrients for the soil, in suitably by occasional turning. It produces safe,
damp and aerated conditions, such as useful garden fertiliser/soil conditioner. Our
when compost-making. Nutrients can detailed notes on compost explain how.
also be reclaimed in your kitchen using
sealed bucket fermentation with EM Waste output from our homes
Bokashi (The effective micro- includes liquids as well as solids.
organisms mixture of Sadly, some of the used motor engine
Naturally-occurring yeasts, lactic acid oil, brush-cleaning solvents and paint
bacteria and actinomycetes). residues plus detergents from car
For further information look up EM at washing, are tipped directly into (or get
www.ccc.govt.nz/waste or visit the EM hosed into) the storm water drains on
Many glass containers could be cleaned shop http://www.emshop.co.nz/howto- roadsides. This pollutes the natural
and re-used but without container deposit make_em-bokashi.html waterways that they lead into, killing
legislation there is little economic incentive fish and insect life. Remember that
Steel cans preserve food for extended to do this. In contrast, when sealed from air the road drains are only for rain.
periods, handy for emergency supplies, but inside a landfill site, green waste
we buy them for immediate convenience. ‘No deposit – no return’. Very few decomposes without oxygen to make If liquid wastes (such as unused
We don’t see the waste involved in making products in NZ have a container a toxic liquid (leachate) that may later medicines, bleach cleaners, paints)
them, and then many people don’t rinse deposit charged which is refundable threaten groundwater quality, and this are put into toilets instead, it may
them and save the steel for recycling either! on return of the container, and even sealed decomposition also makes reduce the efficiency of town sewage
(photo: Matthew Smith) the returnable thicker-glass milk bottle methane gas. It eventually escapes to treatment works, or poison the useful
(capable of up to 50 return trips) and the atmosphere, where methane micro-organisms working in domestic
We eat canned and bottled food returnable brown beer bottle are contributes to global warming, so it septic tanks, so that’s also very
even when the shops are full of becoming rare. In other countries, has to be collected and stored or used undesirable. Instead, liquid wastes
fresh ‘seasonal’ food. In a year, the where legislation requires certain on site as a substitute for other fuels. should be stored in sealed labelled
typical New Zealander eats the containers to be returnable, and of containers and disposed of safely at
equivalent of a domestic bath-volume standard shapes/sizes, recovery rates We need to avoid putting organic Council Transfer Stations or contact
of tinned food – and each week throws can rise above 70% and street litter is material into landfills, to reduce your Regional Council for local
away 10 steel food cans plus a similar also reduced. methane and leachate pollution, to disposal options.
number of glass food jars and frozen A campaign for container deposit save on expensive managed disposal
food plastic or card packs. The cans legislation can be found here space and also to return nutrients to Motor oil, for example, can be cleaned
and glass have to be collected and http://www.bottledrive.org.nz/index.htm the soil. Composting on a local- of its sooty carbon, lead, and dioxins,
transported a distance for recycling, neighbourhood or civic commercial to allow re-use. Take your used oil in a
sometimes overseas, or they Some items are intentionally ‘throw- scale is possible, as well as labelled screw-top container to a
otherwise get buried in landfill. away’. Proportionately fewer goods on composting in your garden, but it responsible petrol station or motor
SH8_Waste1_Waste-MakingIntro p3 SH8_Waste1_Waste-MakingIntro p4
www.sustainableliving.org.nz www.sustainableliving.org.nz
workshop or Council Transfer Station Waste Material Exchanges, which link (Another topic in this Households difference plus savings on landfill
or Resource Recovery Park. waste producers and re-users, operate series looks at your shopping charges that finances the recovery.
N.B. Supported by a Government in the Waikato/Bay of Plenty (No choices in detail.)
programme, used oil is collected from Throw), in Timaru, Ashburton
around NZ and transported to (Wastebusters), Mackenzie District, 2. By RE-USING what we have now, Each aluminium can that’s
Westport to fire the kilns at the Holcim West Coast, Christchurch ( Terranova), which diverts it from the waste recycled saves enough electricity
Cement Factory. Wellington (Enviromart) and Auckland stream, either permanently or to run a TV for 3 hours! For
(Renew) and are supported by Regional temporarily. This includes refilling aluminium, the energy saving is
How does NZ compare on resource Councils: Look in your local telephone containers, repairs and 93% compared to smelting bauxite
recovery? book for similar listings or visit maintenance (of houses, vehicles, ore, and for PET plastic 76%. For
Nationally we recover lower www.wasteminz.org.nz/wasteexchange/ equipment and clothes); and the glass-making the energy saving is
proportions of useful materials from for an area near you.. salvage of useful working parts. lower, at 57%, but still useful
our waste than, say, Japan, or the A directory published by the Recycling
Netherlands. By the late 1990s New Operators of New Zealand lists recycling 3. By RECYCLING – using kerbside
Zealand was reclaiming 46% of business contacts all over the country: recycling programs and recycling
aluminium, 30% of steel and 40% of Phone 09 488 9449 www.ronz.org.nz drop off centres, where household
glass (for bottle re-use as well as glass items such as glass bottles, jars,
making), plus 33% of steel. The NZ The first year of Christchurch kerbside steel tins and aluminium, paper and
Packaging Accord aims to improve on recycling green bins, organised by the cardboard and plastics # 1 & 2 are
this with targets set for 2008 of 65% City Council and Terranova (formally collected for reuse or recovery.
aluminium, 70% paper and 43% steel the Recovered Materials Foundation), Escalating oil prices are resulting in
cans. If voluntary action does not rescued 12,650 tonnes of materials increasing markets for other
achieve this legislation is likely to that previously went into landfill. These plastics 3-7 being collected or
follow (as in South Australia, and included: 7 million glass bottles and accepted at drop off. Call your local
Europe). See detail at jars; 5 million aluminium drink cans; 3 District Council for information on
plastics recycling in your area. Glass bottle heaps: separated after use and
www.packaging.org.nz million steel cans; 7.5 million soft drink
awaiting recovery. (Photo: Rhys Taylor)
bottles (code1, PET plastic) and 4.5 Glass recycling is undergoing
Meanwhile, communities such as million plastic milk bottles (code 2, problems in NZ due to increasing
Ashburton (Wastebusters Trust HDPE plastic). Even when one-use containers and limited Every tonne of paper recycled saves
Canterbury), Kaikoura (Innovative compressed, the volume diverted from recycling options and very little trees for other uses, and also saves
Waste), Alexandra (Central Otago landfill was over 28,000 cubic metres, reuse of bottles. Contact your energy.
Wastebusters), Waimate (Whitehorse equivalent to filling the city’s Olympic- District Council for local recycling
Recycling Trust) Wanaka size Queen Elizabeth Swimming Pool information. Of course, you are not fully
Wastebusters, Hurunui District, 40 times! recycling unless you buy recycled
Kaitaia (Community Business 4. RECOVERY of materials often products too. Website users, see the
Environment Centre), Raglan (Xtreme Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington involves collecting sufficient Buy it Back Guide at
Waste) have shown great initiative in and other cities charge for rubbish quantity in one place to make re- http://www.zerowaste.co.nz for a NZ
‘resource recovery projects’ setting up disposal ‘per bag’ as an incentive to processing financially viable, so it guide to recycled goods, aimed mostly
community business models. reduce what reaches landfill. Now that suits business and the local at business buyers. It can be searched
The CRN (Community Recycling kerbside crates collect recyclables, authority rather than the domestic by category.
Network) is now set up with support Christchurch households get only 26 scale. Recovery is carried out by
from Ministry for the Environment to bags a year ‘free’ on the rates, instead community enterprises, waste
assist other communities take control of 52. What is your council doing to collection companies or by local
of their local waste stream. discourage waste to landfill? authorities. Households are
A reduction of more than 50% in waste dependent on business or local
carted from the town to landfill has How do we cut down on the rubbish authority initiative to handle
resulted from this action. bags & fill wheelie-bins less often? metals, plastics, oil, batteries, etc.
District Councils including Mackenzie, Vehicle tyres are recovered in the
Opotiki and Selwyn have also invested Think of the five R’s! Motor Trade’s Tyre Track scheme. 5. Only after the first four: Reduce,
in comprehensive collection and 1. By shopping for things using (www.tyretrack.co.nz ) Re-use, Recover and Recycle, have
processing to work towards zero different criteria, so that we think been considered, should the fifth ‘R’
waste. before purchasing about how we There are industrial processes that for RESIDUAL DISPOSAL apply.
See www.wastebusters.net.nz will deal with the materials recover useful materials at lower Residual material gets land-filled.
www.qldc.govt.nz involved, especially packaging. energy or chemicals cost than Burning it is air-polluting, so that's not
www.xtremewaste.org.nz This can REDUCE the amount of manufacturing from the original currently an alternative. Live clean!
stuff we have to dispose of later. raw materials, and it is this cost
SH8_Waste1_Waste-MakingIntro p5 SH8_Waste1_Waste-MakingIntro p6