If you want to develop your listening skills, try these tasks as you listen to the text. The answers are at the bottom of this page. Thanks to Natasha Groves for preparing the tasks.
If you want to listen and read, just scroll down to the text.
Use the vocabulary list to check the meanings of some words before you listen.
Vocabulary
landfill – a place where rubbish is buried under the ground
facility – a place or building used for a particular activity
contaminated – dirty after being mixed with other things
household – a house and the people in it
tag – a small piece of paper attached to something to show what it is, who owns it, or how much it costs
scrunch something up – to make something into a small round shape in your hand
Try these activities while listening
1. Listening for main ideas
First, just listen to the text, taking notes if you wish. What information can you catch during this first listening?
2. Now listen again and answer the following questions:
- What materials can be recycled in New Zealand?
- What are people doing in many parts of the country?
- Why is recycling important?
- How much of the recycling at Auckland’s sorting facility is actually rubbish?
- Why do researchers think this problem is happening?
- In Southland, when does a household’s bin get a red tag?
- What happens if a household’s bin receives three red tags?
- Fill in the gaps: ‘… with the contamination rate falling from ______ percent in 2023/24 to ______ percent.’
- Plastic bags and lids can be recycled in city council bins. True / False
- What can people do with plastic bags and lids?
News story
Paper and cardboard, glass, plastic, and metal can all be recycled in New Zealand. However, there are problems in many parts of the country with people putting the wrong things into recycling.
Recycling is a way to reduce the amount of rubbish that goes into landfill. This is important because landfills are filling up and it is hard to find space to build new ones. Landfills also release greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change.
Research conducted in Auckland has found that a lot of the things people put into their recycling bins cannot be recycled. The research found that about 30 percent of recycling at Auckland’s sorting facility is actually rubbish and is sent to landfill. Sometimes this is because it is contaminated, such as pizza boxes which still have bits of pizza in them. In other cases, the items put in the recycling bin are not recyclable, such as wood, nappies, and clothes. The researchers think that some people treat the recycling bin like a second rubbish bin and that others do not understand the rules about recycling.
This problem is not limited to Auckland. Other councils around the country say that they also have problems with contamination in recycling. In Southland, recycling bins have been inspected over the last year to check for contamination. If significant contamination is found, the household’s bin gets a red tag. If they receive three red tags, they lose their bin. Since this system started, 20 properties have lost their recycling bin. The system has been quite successful, with the contamination rate falling from 17 percent in 2023/24 to 13 percent.
Some things that cannot be put in city council recycling bins are plastic bags and lids. However, plastic bags can be put in soft plastic recycling bins at supermarkets in many cities and towns. Soft plastic means that you can scrunch it up in your hand. Plastic and metal lids can also be put in recycling boxes in many supermarkets around the country.
If you want to learn more about what to recycle and what not to recycle in New Zealand, listen to National recycling standards from February 2024.
Answers – you don’t have to write a complete sentence as long as you have the key idea in your answer.
a. What materials can be recycled in New Zealand?
Paper and cardboard, glass, plastic, and metal
b. What are people doing in many parts of the country?
Putting the wrong things into recycling
c. Why is recycling important?
Landfills are filling up and it is hard to find space to build new ones; landfills release greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change
d. How much of the recycling at Auckland’s sorting facility is actually rubbish?
About 30 percent
e. Why do researchers think this problem is happening?
Some people treat the recycling bin like a second rubbish bin; others do not understand the rules about recycling
f. In Southland, when does a household’s bin get a red tag?
If significant contamination is found
g. What happens if a household’s bin receives three red tags?
They lose their bin
h. Fill in the gaps: ‘… with the contamination rate falling from 17 percent in 2023/24 to 13 percent.’
i. Plastic bags and lids can be recycled in city council bins. True /False
j. What can people do with plastic bags and lids?
Put them in recycling bins/ boxes at supermarkets in many cities and towns around the country.