Rubbish communication

Recycling has become a touchy issue these days. Some people think it’s all a scam, that it’s all dumped in landfill (it’s not), some bizarrely see recycling as some sort of “virtue signalling” (probably because of their general anti-rational way of thinking…), and some people try their best to recycle everything, sometimes including things that can’t be recycled. New Zealand is about to change what it collects for recycling, and most people were probably blindsided by the news.

On January 16, the day before I left Hamilton for Auckland (and the start of my trip), I saw a Facebook Post from Hamilton City Council HCC) on changes being made to kerbside recycling. It said:

From 1 February 2024, the Ministry for the Environment is standardising kerbside recycling.

This means all Councils in New Zealand will be required to only accept plastics 1, 2, and 5 in the yellow-lidded recycling bins (along with paper, cardboard, clean tins and cans). Glass will still be collected in the blue/green glass crate as normal.

This is a change from what Hamilton City Council previously accepted, which were plastics 1-7.

At the time, I was very busy getting ready for my trip, and too stressed to give it any headspace. However, I was a bit annoyed with the Ministry for springing the changes on us. Hamilton, as their post said, collected plastics 1-7, and it annoyed me that we had to start throwing some plastics in the rubbish, and annoyed me even more that I couldn’t get rid of what I already had in my recycling wheelie bin because I’d be away the last time recycling would be collected before the change in the rules. The notice was so short!

After I got back from Fiji, I saw another post from a different local council, Waikato District Council (which borders Hamilton City Council), and their announcement directed people to throw absolutely recyclable things into the rubbish:

The new government recycling standards come into place next Thursday, but don’t worry we’re already on the right track.

The only changes to your recycling collection will be:

• No lids can be collected. Not even your ice cream container lid. This includes metal and plastic lids.

• Containers should be no larger than 4 litres.

• Anything under 5cm x 5cm can no longer be recycled.

My reaction to that was, WTF?!!, only it was the words, not the initials. HCC had said absolutely nothing about lids in their post, so, which was it?!

I decided to go to the source of the trouble and confusion, The Ministry for the Environment, finally finding the apparently unironically titled page, “Improving household recycling and food scrap collections”. It turned out that the new rules weren’t being “sprung" on us. As it appeared: They’d been finalised in March 2023—nearly a year ago—but this was the first I’d heard anything about it.

It’s possible that the evening news reported on it at the time, but if they did, I certainly didn’t hear it. However, it doesn’t sound like the sort of thing they would report, at least, not in detail. I also never saw any notices from HCC at the time, however, due to Facebook’s famously bizarre algorithms, I don’t always see what they post, and as far as I know, they don’t use any medium other than Facebook (and their own website) to spread news. Add it all up, and there was little chance I’d know about the changes earlier.

I looked through the information on the Ministry’s site, and found that Waikato District’s post was basically accurate—except about the ice cream container lids, I couldn’t find anything about that (the information is available as a PDF on the Ministry’s website). However, Waikato District got some things wrong, like about can lids: “Steel-can ends can also be accepted if securely enclosed inside the can, for example by placing the lid inside the can and squeezing the top of the can closed.” They can also be left partly attached to the can.

At first I thought I’d have to stop putting all lids (including metal jar lids) into the recycling, but then I remembered that HCC hadn’t said anything about metal or ice cream container lids, or about containers larger than 4 litres. So, it seems that for us, for now, that part isn’t changing.

I have absolutely no idea why Waikato District is going farther than HCC, nor whether their rubbish is sorted at the same place or not. However, strategically, it makes sense to hold off on banning loose metal lids, ice cream lids, and containers larger that 4 litres, if they must be banned, because making too many changes too fast will lead too many people to just give up and throw lots of recyclable things in the rubbish. Once they start doing that, it’ll be incredibly difficult to get them to start recycling again. It seems Waikato District doesn't see it that way.

The change in plastics recycling really doesn’t affect me: Types 3, 4, 6, and 7 collectively make up about 5% of all plastics, and for consumers, it’s mainly things like individual containers of yoghurt (the larger tubs tend to be type 2 plastic), sour cream, etc. So, in practical terms, this won’t really affect me all that much—but I took the time to find out the real story—I doubt very many people actually do that. Councils need to get much better at communication if they want people to comply with new rules, and to avoid confusing people.

This isn’t the first time I’ve criticised HCC for poor communication about recycling (See: “”Not really very clear” from January 2022), however, credit where credit’s due. In a new Facebook post on January 22, when I was still in Fiji, HCC was clearer about what the change is:

From 1 February 2024, the Ministry for the Environment is requiring all Councils across New Zealand to collect only plastics 1, 2, or 5 from the yellow-lidded recycling bins (along with paper, cardboard, clean tins and cans). ♻

You can tell what the plastic number is by checking the triangle on the bottom—some plastics look similar, so it pays to check. If there's no number or it's too hard to read, put it in the rubbish bin.

Examples of plastics 1, 2, and 5 👉 Milk, soft drink and juice bottles (without the lids – these go in the bin), large yoghurt containers, 2L hard ice cream containers, cream cheese, sour cream and cottage cheese containers, some dip containers, and some tomato, BBQ, and mustard squeeze bottles. It also includes meat trays and some takeaway containers.

Examples of plastics 3, 4, 6, and 7 👉 Small yoghurt/sour cream pottles, styrofoam, PVC pipes, polystyrene, biscuit and cracker trays, pill packets, some dip containers, soft plastics (plastics you can scrunch in your hand such as biscuit and cracker bags and trays, packaging from bread, rice, packaged vegetables and fruit, and shiny gift wrap) and some tomato sauce, mustard and BBQ squeeze bottles.

Although this is better, there was still poor communication: The bit about recyclable lids from milk and soft drink containers going “in the bin” may possibly mean the rubbish bin, but it’s not clear. The document from the Ministry would suggest that’s what HCC meant, because they’re too small, but it’s absolutely not obvious or clear.

Good communication from government wanting us to do (or not do) something is absolutely critical if they seriously expect compliance of any sort, especially correct compliance. However, many of the new regulations—about lids in particular—strike me as a “them” problem, not an “us” problem. If they’re “difficult” to process, then the correct action is for them to fix their procedures and methods. Failing to do so will lead more and more people to give up recycling in confusion and frustration. All councils already have problems with people illegally dumping rubbish, government at all levels, central government in particular, <i>must</i> get their acts together and make it easier to recycle, not harder.

Related: “Banning more plastics in NZ”, my post about the changes made last year.

The graphic up top is from the Ministry for the Environment.