Kaipara glass recycling on the up

Not only is Kaipara district’s population growing, but the of volume glass it recycles too – so much so the council’s has had to upgrade its storage facilities.

This has been enabled by the Glass Packaging Forum through a grant of over $18,000, which will help with the construction of a concrete pad for new storage bunkers at the Hakaru Transfer Station.

Council contractor Northland Waste Manager Andrew Sclater says the current system of nine-metre skip bins has become inadequate to properly deal with the volume of glass they are seeing.

“The bunkers will not only mean we can store more glass but will make the system more efficient as we can bulk transport glass to the recycler. This will also mean less emissions from transport,” he says.

Glass Packaging Forum Scheme Manager Dominic Salmon says the funding will help future-proof glass recycling in the district. “Sensible infrastructure like this is at the heart of what makes glass recycling an example of the circular economy at work.”

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.