A year of Tauranga glass recycling success

Tauranga’s kerbside glass recycling collection system has shown excellent results a year since it began, more than doubling collection rates.

The Tauranga City Council reported 3,313 tonnes of glass was collected via the service, more than double the tonnage collected by private waste management companies in previous years.

In the media:
– Tauranga says goodbye to tonnes of glass in landfills after new scheme
– A big first year for Tauranga‘s glass recycling

According to the council all the collected glass is sent to be recycled in Auckland.

The new rates-funded, kerbside collection service began on October 1, with the Glass Packaging Forum funding a quarter of the cost through a $165,000 grant – the biggest awarded by the GPF to date.

The Council also reports it collected another 3,309 tonnes at transfer stations, which was recycled. The GPF has awarded grants to improve glass recycling storage at the Council transfer stations.

GPF Scheme Manger Dominic Salmon says the success of the service is a testament to the best practice of a glass collection services where the glass is kept separate from other recyclables and gets colour-sorted at kerbside.

“This shows just how quickly even a large city like Tauranga can vastly improve its glass recycling. The result for Tauranga has been a big increase in the quality and quantity of glass available to be recycled – excellent result.”