Grant helps up Whangarei’s glass recycling game

The Whangarei district’s sustainability work has received a major boost with a grant of over $42,000 from the Glass Packaging Forum.

The grant will improve glass recycling through the upgrade of storage bunkers at the Re:Sort Centre in Whangarei, run by Northland Waste. “The Whangarei District Council’s change to collected glass separately to other recyclables at kerbside has meant a 20% increase in recycled glass coming to Re:Sort,” says Northland Waste Manager Andrew Sclater.

Northland Recycling is a division of Northland Waste.

“It is expected an additional 800 tonnes of glass will be recycled compared to 2019, so we have had to upgrade our storage bunkers. This will mean there is less risk of the glass becoming contaminated, health and safety on site is improved, and we are able to deal with seasonal demands,” Andrew says.

Glass Packaging Forum Scheme Manager Dominic Salmon says council’s move to the new collection method in 2019 is best practice, as is evident by the immediate increase in glass.

“We advocate for all councils to adopt this method – the results speak for themselves. The GPF exists to improve glass recycling so we are more than happy to help Northland Recycling improve their facility,” he says.

The GPF’s grants are funded by voluntary levies paid by its members, with over $3.7 million in grants funded to date to projects which improve glass recovery and recycling in New Zealand.

This latest funding builds on over $30,000 already invested by the GPF in the district over the past five years, with grants for projects at Tutukaka Marina, Uretiti Transfer Station Recycling Centre and Whangarei Heads Community Resource Recovery Charitable Trust.