Turning plastic waste into reusable packaging
Turning plastic waste into reusable packaging
Environment Minister Amy Adams has announced
funding of $4 million to Wellington manufacturer Flight
Plastics to build a recycling facility that will turn
plastic waste into food-safe packaging.
The money was
awarded to Flight Plastics from the Government’s Waste
Minimisation Fund.
About 17,000 tonnes of polyethylene
terephthalate plastic (PET) plastics are consumed in New
Zealand each year. This type of plastic is commonly used to
make soft drink bottles, and fruit and vegetable
punnets.
Most of New Zealand’s recycled PET is
exported to Asia, however, Flight Plastic’s new facility
in Lower Hutt will have the potential to process up to half
of that volume.
“As a country we need to be thinking
smarter about ways to reduce our waste, and this facility
will certainly provide a fundamental change in the way
plastic waste is managed,” Ms Adam says.
“It is
gratifying to be able to back an innovative project such as
this, which shows Kiwi ingenuity is able to develop
practical ideas which enhance our clean, green
image.”
This is the first time that food-safe
packaging will be made in New Zealand from locally-recycled
PET.
The $4 million of funding follows a $30,000
government grant in 2012 for a feasibility study which
developed a business model and assessed the economic
viability of installing the recycling facility.
The
funding comes from the Government’s Waste Minimisation
Fund. The Fund provides financial support to projects which
increase resource efficiency and decrease the amount of
waste going to landfill.
To date the Government has
awarded more than $50 million to 100 projects through the
Fund.
For more information on the Waste Minimisation
Fund go to: www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/waste/waste-minimisation-fund/index.html
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