New plastics recycling initiative announced

The Government is partnering with the retail sector and packaging industry to recycle thousands of tonnes of plastics like shopping bags that currently cannot be, Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith announced today.

“The problem is that soft plastics like shopping bags, bread bags, frozen food bags and food wrap are not accepted by kerbside recycling services and cannot currently be recycled in New Zealand. We are investing in a new drop-off recycling service at stores and new recycling infrastructure that will enable soft plastics to be re-used,” Dr Smith says.

The initiative is to be funded through a $700,000 grant to the Packaging Forum and a $510,000 grant to Astron Plastics Group from the Government’s Waste Minimisation Fund. The Packaging Forum grant will help fund a trial of the new recycling service at The Warehouse, Pak ‘n’ Save, New World and Countdown stores across Auckland. The Astron Plastics Group grant will establish a new dry-cleaning facility in Auckland that will have the capacity to recycle 2000 tonnes of soft plastics and will reduce the requirement to import virgin plastic polymers.

“This approach has proved successful in Australia through the Coles Group and saved thousands of tonnes of plastic going to landfill. The longer-term objective of this initiative would be for 70 per cent of New Zealanders to have access to a drop-off facility for soft plastics within 20 kilometres of their home,” Dr Smith says.

“This is a more sensible approach than a ban or a compulsory levy on just plastic shopping bags. These bags make up only 0.2 per cent of waste going to landfill, and only 10 per cent of plastic waste. Nor can a ban or a compulsory levy be justified when plastic shopping bags only make up 1.5 per cent of the litter items in nationwide litter surveys.

“We need to do better as a country in how we manage plastics but we need to do so in ways that make environmental sense, are cost effective and practical,” Dr Smith concluded.

ENDS

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