Palmerston North City Council (Awapuni Resource Recovery Park)

Facility: Palmerston North City Council (Awapuni Resource Recovery Park)

Address: Tip Road, Palmerston North

Phone: 06 356 8199

Region Served: Palmerston North

Palmerston North City Council (PNCC) accepts approved compostable packaging via its own food waste collection service and events recycling service only.   

Acceptance Criteria:

Where standards exist ‘compostable packaging’ must be certified under the European Standard EN13432 or the Australian Standard AS4736, which is the European Standard plus an earthworm toxicity test.

PNCC have approved the following list of products for acceptance at their facility:

• compostable coffee cups/bowls lined with PLA
• food packaging products made from – paper, cardboard, potato starch, sugarcane, pine, bagasse & bamboo materials
• sandwich wraps & pouches made from vegetable wax coated paper ONLY – this is the only greaseproof paper which can be composted
• wooden (pine or bamboo) chopsticks, knives, forks & spoons & stirrers
• Corn-starch compostable liners/bags
• branding must use non-toxic inks e.g. soy-based inks
• paper towels and napkins. No kitchen towels if they have cleaning product on them

PNCC will not accept:

• PE/”wax” lined products – (polyethylene – PE plastic. These containers are either made of fibres held together by a PE compound, or the container itself is lined with PE)
• oil based plastics (including degradable plastic bags)
• packaging that is contaminated with human bio-solids such as disposable nappies
• any other product claiming to be compostable but not clearly stating that it is made from the materials outlined above

PNCC are currently undertaking trials for the acceptance of the following products:

• hard bioplastics – hard PLA e.g. smoothie containers/water bottles/opaque knives, forks spoons & straws

PNCC reserves the right to reject any packaging that is presented as ‘compostable packaging’, even if listed as an acceptable input if found to be detrimental in any way to the PNCC composting methods, or to PNCC compost products.

Fundamental to the success of composting appropriate service ware is the issue of contamination.  Contamination such as plastics significantly compromises the quality of our compost product. If PNCC receives contaminated material it will be diverted to landfill –and a penalty fee will be charged.

Delivery:

PNCC does not currently accept delivery of compostable packaging from individual members of the public, businesses or any other waste provider.  The service is provided only through PNCC’s commercial food waste collection and event recycling service.