Revolutionary recycling facility coming in July

From City Scene, published on 3 February, 2008

Easier recycling: The new materials recovery facility (MRF) will soon make recycling easier for residents. All recyclable material is sorted using a series of chambers inside the MRF to separate metals, paper, plastic and glass into individual streams.

Recycling will become easier for Auckland city residents in July when a new and enhanced recycling service starts.

New 240-litre blue-lidded recycling bins, designed to hold all recyclable household waste, will replace the existing blue recycling crates.

The contents of the new recycling bins will be collected fortnightly and taken to a purpose built recycling sorting facility. The materials recovery facility (MRF) will be the most technically advanced waste processing centre in the southern hemisphere.

The purpose of the MRF and the new collection system is to make recycling safer, cleaner and more efficient by diverting more recyclable material away from landfill.

The new recycling system will reduce hassles for residents who will no longer need to separate paper and cardboard from other recyclables for collection.

The MRF will recycle all paper, cardboard, glass bottles and jars, aluminium and steel cans and plastic containers marked with any of the symbols 1 to 7.

At the facility the contents of the collection trucks are emptied onto the tipping floor and moved to the body of the MRF by conveyor belt.

After hand-sorting to remove any major contamination, a magnet separates steel and aluminium, followed by a rotating cylinder that sorts paper from heavier items. A screen sorter removes fine pieces of glass, then air separation operated by optical sorting devices sorts plastic containers into various plastic grades. Finally, each material type files into separate streams that are baled and transferred to reprocessing plants for treatment.

Over the coming months and closer to the new recycling service's introduction, the council will be informing residents further about the new recycling services. A series of communications will include dates and instructions as to what to do and how to get the best out the new service. Until July, the current weekly recycling service will continue, with glass bottles, plastic containers and cans placed in the blue crates, and paper and cardboard placed separately on the kerbside for collection.

For more information on recycling, visit the website or phone 379 2020.