Dear Wellington City Council,

I’d like you to provide information about recycling in Wellington, including any internal photos, emails, reports, or any other document in any form that might answer my questions. I’d like any documents provided to be as unredacted as possible.

I have read the council pages about recycling, but they’re quite generic and high-level, and leave a lot of questions unanswered.

- How exactly is recycling sorted in Wellington, i.e. what’s sorted by hand, by machine, and how exactly is this done?
- What happens to items that are put into the recycling incorrectly? Including items that are recyclable but ‘shouldn’t’ be put into the recycling like crushed cans, soft plastic, food-soiled cardboard, etc.
- Are entire bags of recycling put into the landfill because of one or two items that shouldn’t be in the recycling bin, or are only the offending items separated out?
- What statistics do you have on volumes of recycling wastage, including detailed statistics on the types of items and how they were separated out?
- What internal communications, reminders or memos do you have on recycling, including changes in approach or policy to items that should or shouldn’t be recycled?
- Under what circumstances and how frequently is sorted recycling redirected to landfill, e.g. when recyclers don’t have capacity? Or are all recyclable items always stored until a suitable recycler can be found?

Thanks!

Stefan