Rubbish and recycling

We’ve previously talked about how the way our economic system works doesn’t properly account for natural resources. It essentially assumes that natural resources are bottomless and therefore can be endlessly exploited. We now know that isn’t the case, but perhaps one hangover from that failure of the market is that our recycling rate is abysmal. Only 9% of the plastic we have produced has been recycled and other materials aren’t much better. But everything we recycle doesn’t have to be sent to landfill, and can be used in place of extracting more natural resources from the planet.

In a perfect world, the company that produced something would be responsible for ensuring it was recycled or properly disposed of. Until that happens unfortunately the onus is on the consumer to try and find an alternative to putting something in the rubbish. The good news is that when you start to look, it turns out that there are lots of places that are trying to minimise what ends up in landfill.

Here are some of our top tips for your rubbish and recycling (for now this information is most relevant to people who live in Auckland, New Zealand but your local council should have similar information available):

• Here’s what you can and can’t put in your rubbish

• Here’s what you can and can’t put in your recycling

• Make use of the food scraps collection - instead of going to landfill your food scraps will be used for clean energy and liquid fertiliser

• Auckland Council has a really helpful site with information on how to dispose of all sorts of items

• Community recycling centres will accept many larger items, including electronic waste, that don’t fit in your weekly rubbish

• Soft plastics can be recycled at your local supermarket

• Bunnings stores will recycle your old batteries for free - if they end up in landfill they can leach harmful chemicals into the ground