Auckland recycling – learning opportunity 1
Auckland City is growing and so is its waste. This video shows how to get it right when recycling in Auckland.
This is the first of three videos used to explore the recycling process with levels 1–4. The videos have a focus on Auckland recycling but are also relevant for students across New Zealand.
Related content
This video is part of a series of three videos, the other videos are:
The teaching and learning activities that use these videos can be found here.
Transcript
Voiceover
Our vibrant city of Auckland is growing, and it’s our efforts as Aucklanders that will determine how clean, green and enjoyable our city is.
The city of Tāmaki Makaurau is a beautiful place to live, and as our city grows, so does the amount of waste we’re producing. Aucklanders send around 230,000 tonnes of waste to landfills each year. One of the ways we reduce the amount of waste going to landfill is by recycling, using our kerbside wheelie bin. When we recycle right, we can divert around 140,000 tonnes of Auckland’s waste from landfills each year.
From July 2016, all of Auckland’s kerbside recycling will be taken to Visy Recycling in Onehunga for sorting, which means that we can all recycle the same items, in the same way, no matter which part of Auckland you’re in. So let’s see how it works and learn how to recycle right.
The items we put into our recycling bins are emptied into collection trucks at the kerbside. Once collected, all of Auckland’s kerbside recycling material is taken to Visy Recycling in Onehunga for sorting. The Visy Recycling facility has some of the most advanced sorting technology in New Zealand and is the country’s biggest materials recovery facility (MRF for short).
The Visy MRF utilises both people and machines to receive, sort and bale recyclables. First, the recyclables are tipped out of the collection trucks onto Visy’s MRF ramp. Visy receives more than 200 truck deliveries each day. A loader driver scoops the recyclables up and tips them onto a conveyor, which takes them inside the sorting building. The recyclables on the conveyor are evened out by a levelling drum as they move along.
The very first sorting stage is called pre-sort. This is where a team of sorters work quickly to remove things that aren’t recyclable. Sorters pull the non-recyclable items off the conveyor before they can cause damage to the facility or to the good recyclable items. This can be the most important part of the sorting process, and it’s done by Aucklanders like you and I.
So make sure that what you put in your recycling bin is clean, empty and not dangerous for sorters to handle.
Acknowledgements These resources have been produced by Cognition Education for Visy Industries and Auckland Council.
