UK man Daniel Webb created this huge billboard mural of all the plastic he used during the year. All 4490 pieces of it. Most of it was single-use plastic and 60% was food packaging.
What does our data tell us about recycling and plastic in New Zealand?
Firstly, it’s very hard to get recent comprehensive data. Here’s what our research has found:
- We produce 4.8 million tonnes of waste per year, mainly from organic waste, paper, metals, plastics, rubble and concrete, timber and hazardous waste. About a quarter of this is from domestic households and the balance from commercial businesses.
- About half of this total goes to landfill, about half is recycled.
- Domestic recycling has been relatively successful. Of the waste produced by households, recycling rates range from 47% for organics to 71% for plastics, and average about 50%.
- Business recycling has been good for some materials but not others. Of the waste produced, recycling rates are about 80% for metals and rubble and concrete, but are very poor for plastics at just 4%.
- New Zealand does not produce any plastics raw materials, but imports them all to manufacture into products.
- There is about 264,000 tonnes of plastic waste a year from the use of plastic products.
- About 85% (224,000 tonnes) is sent to landfill – almost all of this is commercial waste.
- Over half of this is soft plastic that is only recyclable in main centres through designated drop-off points.
- The balance – 90,000 tonnes – is difficult to recycle plastic like polypropylene and non-reusable plastic like PVC.
- The problem with plastic is its longevity, taking an estimated 500-1000 years to break down.
What are we to do with this 90,000 tonnes of non-recyclable plastic? Comparisons are odious, but this is more than the 25,000 tonnes of tyres that are currently in the news – and some may argue that plastic in landfills is a much bigger problem than rubber.
At the end of his project, Daniel Webb is quoted as saying, “recycling is vital, and we need to invest more in recycling facilities and infrastructure. But really we need to find ways of using less.”
Clearly, commercial businesses need to own this issue too and recycle plastic better. We are currently working with the horticulture post-harvest sector to look at recycling some of the materials used on fruit pallets.
Please contact Jane if you would like to be proactive in recycling your plastic waste.