Would you believe the slick way EnviroWaste makes money?

We recently moved to Tauranga and had to recycle polystyrene from flat pack furniture.

Oh, yes. It was going to cost $65 a carload. I hated the thought, but if polystyrene has to be disposed of in a special way, I was prepared to suck it up and move on. My vehicle was weighed and I drove up to the disposal shed in Meleme St expecting to be directed to a special dumpster where I would eject my load.

I was directed to the edge of the tip despite my protests that there must surely be a delegated area for the load. I was told no and that it all goes over the edge with everything else.

My indignant self drove down to the weighing machine and I was told that I needed to pay $65. The lady wresting my money from me knew that the car weighed no different from when I drove in and with my trying-to-be-pleasant-under-duress-self I protested, only to be told that if I got to dispose of any more polystyrene just to break it up and put out a little each week in my rubbish collection. I was trying to be ethical and dispose of it the right way.

I emailed EnviroWaste twice and haven't had the courtesy of a reply.

My second positive email weeks later protesting the lack of communication ended with: ‘If I don't hear back from you, I guess I might have to go to the media'.

Here endeth the second lesson.

B Burgess, Tauranga.

Tauranga City Council manager Sustainability and Waste Rebecca Maiden responds.

New Zealand's landfill disposal rates are set by the landfill owner on the amount of airspace that is utilised, not the weight of the material received. As polystyrene is extremely light, and does not compact well, it takes up significantly more space in a landfill than other general waste, and therefore is charged by volume.

The current situation with polystyrene is regrettable as we have no cost-effective way of recycling it.

Often retailers do accept the packaging material back they have generated and this should be the first option of disposal for consumers.

Tauranga City Council work closely with EnviroWaste who manage the transfer stations on council's behalf to find long-term sustainable markets for recyclable material. However, when we're unable to find a solution we prefer to be transparent and upfront with our community that we can't currently recycle a particular material. We think the onus should be on manufacturers to use packaging that's more sustainable instead. Residents can also help by choosing to buy products that don't use this unsustainable packaging wherever possible.