Official Information Request - 5 May 2019

Sent: Thursday, 16 May 2019 4:38 p.m.

Subject: Official Information request - plastic bottles recycling

I refer to your email of 5 May 2019 requesting to know what stages plastic bottles placed in recycling bins go through to be recycled, including the final destination (and all places in between), the process of recycling plastic bottles go through to be re-used, and the cost involved.

All recycling collected throughout the Rotorua Lakes District Municipal collection is treated as co-mingled recycling by our contractor SMART Environmental who then consolidate the recovered materials at Council's Materials Recovery Facility on Te Ngae Road, Rotorua. Co-mingled product comprises all compliant plastics, paper and cardboard as one waste stream.

The consolidated co-mingled recycled material, which includes plastic bottles, is compacted into 'pods' at the Te Ngae Road facility and trucked to the SMART Environmental Materials Sorting Facility at Kopu, near Thames. At this facility the recovered materials are separated and baled by material type for onwards transportation for reprocessing.

RLC's contractual involvement ceases at the point of delivery to Kopu and the final onward supply destination of recovered plastics is dependent upon commercial arrangements that SMART has with reprocessing facilities. We are aware that NZ based facilities are engaged by SMART Environmental wherever it is commercially viable to do so.

As a consequence, regarding the costs, we are able to refer only to the costs that are identified with our contract for recycling collection and onward transport to the SMART Environmental Materials Recovery Facility at Kopu. The total operational costs associated with the collection and processing of co-mingled recycling, including facilities and bins etc, is approximately $156,000 per month.

As per the Act, we are obliged to advise that you may contact the Ombudsman at the address below if you have any concerns with the response provided by Council, by writing to:

The Office of the Ombudsman

PO Box 10 152

WELLINGTON 6143

Alternatively, you may email info@ombudsman.parliament.nz or use the online complaints form available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/make-a-complaint.

Regards