The alarm that rings through the Blenheim Waste Sorting Centre resembles a starting gun, as nine recycle operators prepare to receive the first load of the day.
By Kira Carrington of Local Democracy Reporting
"Let’s go team," Marlborough district councillor Cyril Dawson called.
The sorting centre marked its reopening on Wednesday, 11 months after a discarded lithium-ion battery, believed to be from a vape, sparked a $2.5m fire that left the building structurally damaged.
Dawson had started the day by cutting a blue ribbon between two road cones, before heading onto the sorting line.
As the recycling made its way down the conveyor belt, many hands worked at lightning speed, sorting the jumble of cans, punnets, bottles and cardboard.
Dawson’s job was aluminium, grabbing cans and throwing them down a long hatch into a concrete bin. He was so focused that he barely got a few words out to Local Democracy Reporting.
"It’s [about] looking at what you’ve got to pick up. You are moving fast, you’ve definitely got to focus. That [aluminium] bin is filling up fast," Dawson said, reaching for the next can.
The team had worked for barely a few minutes before the conveyor came to an emergency stop, a plastic bag full of lettuce had been found.
"This happens all the time," team leader Heather Boyd said. They had received dog poo, full nappies, and sanitary items.
Dawson pulled a full can of whiskey cola from the belt.
Last week, a lamb carcass was found. It wasn’t the first carcass, Boyd said, they’d seen pigs, cats, and dogs as well.
Regardless, Boyd said that she enjoyed her job. Working in waste management had opened up opportunities like getting her forklift licence. The team themselves were "like a whānau", she said.
Council solid waste manager Mark Lucas said people being careless with their recycling sometimes put the recycle team in danger.
Last November’s fire had been caused by a lithium-ion battery from a suspected disposable vape, Lucas said.
"It was in the cardboard and they ran over it with a forklift which started the fire. One little act of carelessness, a $30 vape, has caused $2.5 million worth of damage."
It took four months to set up a temporary facility while the centre was rebuilt. In those months the region’s recycling was trucked to Christchurch, costing $160,000 a month.
Lucas said one of the biggest dangers was sharp objects, including nails, needles, Epi-pens, catheter lines, and cutting blades. The centre had filled a 22-litre bucket with sharp objects in six weeks.
The team wore through a pair of $80 protective gloves each week, but that didn’t stop needle jabs from happening, Lucas said. A "needle stick", because of the potential for hepatitis and HIV/AIDS, meant nine to 12 months of testing to be safe, he said.
"We can't stress enough that people have got to be better. For this team up here, [the conveyor belt] is their desk in their office.
"If somebody came and dropped the dead lamb on your desk, it would not be acceptable."
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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