Frequently Asked Questions

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General

• Why do I have to rinse my containers?

Rinsing ensures that the container is clean and this reduces contamination, giving it a higher recyclable value. There are also health and safety reasons: animals are inclined to nuzzle through dirty cans, causing litter on the kerbside and sometimes injuring themselves; and all of your recycling is handled by people at some point, so ensuring containers are not full of old food and drink makes their job less unpleasant .

• Isn’t rinsing my containers wasting water?

You don’t need to waste water to ensure your containers are clean. Rinse them in your old dishwashing water after you have finished washing your dishes. If you use a dishwasher, simply put a little water in the container to rinse it out, then pour that water on your pot plants or garden – you would be watering them anyway, so you aren’t using any more water than usual.

• Should I remove labels from jars, bottles and cans?

You may do so if you wish but it is not necessary - labels are burnt off as part of the recycling process.

• What do I do with batteries?

Normal batteries and hearing aid batteries cannot be recycled – they should be placed in your official council rubbish bags. Car batteries can be taken to the recycling centres of the EcoDepots (Christchurch) or Transfer Stations (Waimakariri).

• What happens to my recycling after it is collected?

Your glass is separated from your metals and plastics by a person on the truck, and is sorted by colour into three different compartments. Paper and card are also thrown into a separate part of the truck.
Once delivered to the processing site, the supermarket bags holding your paper are opened by hand and the bags separated for recycling. The paper and card are loaded onto a conveyor where they sorters separate them into newspaper, and mixed paper. These are baled separately for recycling.
At another site plastics and metals are loaded onto a conveyor belt where an overhead magnet removes steel cans, which are then dropped into a steel baler. As the remaining items continue up the conveyor belt a magnetic eddy current is charged into the aluminium cans, forcing them to ‘jump’ onto a separate conveyor belt, where they are diverted to an aluminium can baler. The remaining number one and two plastics are baled together, to be sorted by type and colour on receipt at the final destination.

Tell me more about the recycling process for:
paper and card, steel cans, aluminium cans, plastics, glass

Collection/Crates

• How can I get another Real Recycling crate?

Christchurch City: every household where kerbside collection is provided is entitled to two crates free of charge. You can pick up your second crate at any council service centre. Over your two crate allotment you will need to either prove your existing crates are damaged by bringing them into the service centre, or pay $12 to get a new one.
Waimakariri District: every household where kerbside collection is provided is entitled to two crates free of charge. If your crate is stolen, lost or damaged you can get a replacement from any council service centre. If you require additional crates you can purchase them for $15 from a council service centre.
People can reduce the risk of their crate being stolen by printing their address on the crate as soon as they receive it, and by bringing crates back onto their property as soon as possible after collection.

• I put my recycling out in a cardboard box; why wasn’t it taken?

It is policy to only collect recycling from the official council crates, because other containers are not as sturdy and often rip or break. This is particularly true of cardboard cartons, which often become wet from the contents they hold, dew or rain, and when the collectors pick them up, the recycling falls out causing litter and/or injury. When the contents are glass it is more dangerous as there is the risk of broken glass on the footpath or street. If you cannot fit all of your recycling in your regular crate see your local council service centre about getting a second crate (see additional crates policy above) or take it to the recycling centres at the EcoDepots (Christchurch) or Transfer Stations (Waimakariri).

• My Real Recycling crate was not emptied by the collectors. What do I do?

There may be several reasons it was not taken.
If it was not out by the start of collection (7:30am for Christchurch; 8am for Waimakariri) it may have missed the collection; remember - even if the other side of your street still has crates to be emptied, if your side has been done the collectors would not know a new crate had been put out. 
There may have been items in your crate that are not recyclable through the kerbside collection programme; they may not have been presented as per the guidelines in the Help us Recycle flier; or your recycling may not be in an official container. In this case there will be a bright green sticker on your crate – it lists the possible reasons your recycling was not taken. If you remove the non-recyclables, present your recycling correctly and ensure your recycling is in an official container, it should be taken.
Finally, it may simply have been an oversight on the part of the collectors. In this case you can call the appropriate Council and and advise them of this.

• What do I do if the collectors leave a mess behind?

If you are sure the collectors have dropped recycling and left it in the street then phone the appropriate Council and and advise them of this.
However, please be sure that it was the collectors who created the mess. Often recycling becomes litter because it is not prepared properly – i.e. when lightweight items are not squashed or weighed down with heavier ones, or paper is not tied in bags, then these items may blow down the street. Animals may dig through recycling if it is not rinsed, or cartons break and spill their contents on the kerbside. In these cases it is not the collectors' fault, and it is the responsibility of the people who put the recycling out to clean up the kerbside.

Plastics

• Why do you only accept plastics 1 and 2?

Plastics 3-7 are not collected for recycling in Christchurch because there aren't sustainable and feasible markets for these items at present. We do not have the technology available here within New Zealand to recycle them so we must export them. We are not convinced that the markets who accept these items, and the way they dispose of them, is responsible or sustainable in the long term. Real Recycling is committed to long term solutions.
 A second, lesser consideration is that the Real Recycling kerbside recycling crates simply could not cope with the increase of volume that adding all of these items would lead to. We already have problems with overflowing crates, which cause litter in the streets, and injury to the collectors (because the crates are overfull and too heavy).

• Are you planning to accept plastics 3 to 7 in the near future?

Once we can address the issues of long-term, sustainable markets, and when we have the capacity to collect more items at kerbside (ie if we have a larger recycling receptacle) then we hope that we be able to accept more plastics. At present we hope this might be late 2008.

• Can I recycle margarine, yogurt and ice-cream containers?

No, these are usually made of a plastic that is not recyclable in Christchurch and Waimakariri at present. Unless it is a number 1 or 2 plastic, we cannot accept it.
 

• Can I recycle plastic or polystyrene meat trays?

Unless these are number 1 or 2 plastic they should be disposed of in your official council rubbish bag.

• Why do I have to remove my lids?

It lids aren't removed the containers may still have liquid in them (which can contaminate the recycling if it leaks out), the bottles won't compress properly when baled, and the high pressure of the baler may cause the lids to fly off at high speed, causing a safely hazard. Lids are also often a different plastic to the container, and a different colour – this causes contamination to the plastic being recycled.

• If plastic milk bottle lids have the number 2 on them why can’t they be recycled?

On average we get over 100,000 bottles per day at our processing site it isn't feasible to look at all the lids to see which are recyclable and which ones aren't. Even if people took the lids off and collected the recyclable lids together, they would still be a problem because they are so small and fall through the conveyor belt, jamming the machinery and slowing the whole process down.

• Should I take the plastic rings off plastic bottles as well as the lid?

Yes, it is preferable if the ring is removed. Like the lid the plastic may be a different type from the bottles, and almost certainly a differently colour. Either way it will contaminate the recycling of the container plastic.

Tell me more about the recycling process for plastic

Metals

• What do I do with batteries?

Normal batteries and hearing aid batteries cannot be recycled – they should be placed in your official council rubbish bags. Car batteries can be taken to the recycling centres of the EcoDepots (Christchurch) or Transfer Stations (Waimakariri).

• If metal is recyclable then why do I need to remove the metal lids of jars?

If lids aren't removed the containers may still have liquid or food in them, which can contaminate the glass being recycled. To keep messages simple and consistent we currently have a no lids policy in general across all the products we collect.

• Why do I have to squash my cans?

For safety and space reasons. If a can is squashed, it takes up less room in your crate, and on the truck; this reduces the number of trips the truck must make back to the processing site to unload. It also prevents animals from getting their heads caught in cans with food residue – we have seen some nasty accidents and want to prevent them. However, if you find it physically difficult to squash your steel cans then we will still accept them unsquashed.

Tell me more about the recycling process for aluminium cans
Tell me more about the recycling process for steel cans

Glass

• If metal is recyclable then why do I need to remove the metal lids of jars?

If lids aren't removed the containers may still have liquid or food in them, which can contaminate the glass being recycled. To keep messages simple and consistent we currently have a no lids policy in general across all the products we collect.

• What do I do with broken glass?

Do not put broken glass in your recycling crate. Place it in an open container (e.g. an ice-cream container) beside your official council rubbish bag and it will be collected as rubbish.

• Why can’t I put other glass out for recycling, along with my bottles and jars?

Different types of glass are made up of different chemical compositions, meaning they melt at different temperatures. If other types of glass get mixed in with your bottles and jars, it won’t melt at the temperature they do, and it will cause impurities and weaknesses in any container it is recycled into. That is why it is so important to put out only food and beverage containers for kerbside recycling. No drinking glasses, window glass, crockery, light bulbs or any other sort of glass.

Tell me more about the recycling process for glass

Paper and Card

• Why was my cardboard not collected?

It was probably too big, or not tied into a bundle. Cardboard must be cut or tied to bundles approximately 50cm x 50cm. Large untied pieces of cardboard easily get picked up and blown about by the high winds Canterbury experiences both in summer and winter, and the cardboard can end up as litter in the street. It is also easier for the collectors to lift and throw the cardboard when it is smaller. Large cardboard also jams the paper slot of the truck, requiring it to return to the depot more frequently.

• Are milk cartons the only cartons that are reused by Trees for Canterbury, or can yogurt and juice cartons be reused too?

Only the milk/cream cartons are reused by Trees for Canterbury. They take the small or large cartons, but not juice or yogurt cartons. Those types of cartons may be made with waxed paper (which is fine for this reuse purpose) or foil lined (which is not), and the only way to tell is to look inside. With the volume of recycling processed each day it is not feasible to look inside all of these cartons.

• When envelopes are recycled, should the plastic windows be removed?

Envelopes are accepted for recycling with the plastic windows intact, however we do prefer it if the windows are removed.

• Should I remove staples from paper?

Removing the staples would be helpful, but is not essential; papers are still acceptable with staples intact.

• Why does my paper have to be in a plastic supermarket bag to be collected?

Doing so keeps you paper separate from other material that can wet or contaminate it with liquids or foods (paper must be clean and dry to be recycled). The bag keeps the paper dry from rain, and stops it blowing away in the wind. Having the paper contained also makes it easier for the collectors to throw it into the paper/cardboard chamber of the truck.
If you use reusable shopping bags only, and have no plastic supermarket bags, then tie your paper and thin card up with string. In this case please be sure not to put it out for recycling if it is raining.

Tell me more about the recycling process for paper

Please email info@realrecycling.com with any questions or comments.