Crunch Time for Glass Recycling

By CATLEY, Beth

The future of glass recycling in Nelson is at a turning point, with a producer levy due to run out and still no local use for recycled glass.

The price paid by New Zealand’s main buyer of recycled glass, Auckland’s ACI Glass, plummeted early this year, but a voluntary accord among members of the glass packaging industry has been subsidising the price to allow recycling to continue.

But the levy was a temporary breathing space for councils, and is due to end this month.

At a meeting of the Nelson City Council’s policy committee yesterday , stormwater and solid waste engineer Andrew James said coloured glass, for which ACI paid $75 a tonne, could continue to be sent to Auckland.

However, it was likely to be uneconomic to continue sending clear glass, for which ACI paid only $10 a tonne.

Recycling contractor Nelmac was negotiating with Fulton Hogan to carry out a trial of using glass in council roading projects, but this had not been finalised, Mr James said.

Speaking outside the meeting, council technical services manager Alec Louverdis was reluctant to reveal too much about the council’s planning for the future of glass recycling.

Mr Louverdis said the future of the levy was unclear, and it was possible that the packaging accord would continue to subsidise the glass price.

The negotiations with Fulton Hogan were at a sensitive stage, and the details of who would fund a trial had not been finalised, he said.

He would not comment on the council’s options for glass recycling if the trial was unsuccessful.

Nelmac chief executive Malcolm Topliss said he was expecting the negotiations with Fulton Hogan to be resolved by early next week.

He said Fulton Hogan had applied for funding from the New Zealand Packaging Accord to carry out the trial, but he would not comment on the amount.

Mr Topliss said he was confident that a local use for the glass could be found, as crushing and reusing glass was common overseas.

Meanwhile, the way recyclable materials are collected is likely to change early next year, to help Nelmac deal with the large volumes of glass Nelson households put out.

Mr Louverdis said Nelmac would collect just glass one week, then all other materials the following week. This would make collection and processing much easier.

Mr Topliss said the new system would also be more cost- effective.

A commercial recycling service has been delayed for a second time, and is now scheduled to begin in April next year. The user- pays service was initially meant to start in July, but was put off until October.

Mr James told the committee that glass was likely to make up a large proportion of commercial recycling, and it did not make sense to begin the service in the current situation.

Meanwhile, the committee agreed to write to billionaire Graeme Hart’s Rank Food Group to protest the planned withdrawal of glass milk bottles, and to support a petition calling for deposits to be reinstated on glass bottles.