Why and how to recycle your soft plastics?
Bread bags, chips and pasta packets, ice cream wrappers, thin plastic packaging and more: we are using A LOT of soft plastics every day. While we should try to shop differently and reduce packaging, we can (should?) recycle our soft plastics along the journey.
Why recycle your soft plastics?
Thousands of tonnes of soft plastics are sent to landfill each year in New Zealand. And “sent to landfill” means “buried in the ground and leaching chemicals and greenhouse gases”… Not great!
But we can all do something about it:
Reducing the packaging we buy
When we use some soft plastics: we can EASILY collect and recycle them. (See below how!)
On top of avoiding pollution here in Aotearoa New Zealand, recycling your soft plastics will considerably reduce your landfill bin.
How to recycle your soft plastics?
EA-SYYYY! Simply follow these 3 simple steps:
Collect your soft plastics
Make sure the bags are empty, clean and dry
Drop them into the Soft Plastics Recycling bins at your local supermarket (Countdowns - Woolworths, New Worlds,…)
What plastic bags and wrappers can be recycled?
The one simple rule is: any soft plastic you can scrunch into a ball.
The current scheme accepts:
Bread, pasta & rice bags
Bubble wrap and large sheets of plastic cut into pieces the size of an A3 sheet of paper first
Cereal box liners
Chocolate & muesli bar wrappers and biscuit packets (wrapper only)
Cling film which is clean - and please make sure it is LDPE (resin 4)
Coffee & Tea bags (light foil lining)
Confectionery wrap; chip packets with light foil
Courier packs
Dairy wrappers
Dry dog food bags
Fresh produce bags and netting citrus bags
Frozen food bags (frozen vegetable, fries, burgers, nuggets, poultry etc.)
Garden potting mix bags
Ice pack bags – (empty and dry)
Newspaper wrap
Plastic packaging around toilet paper, kitchen towels, nappies and sanitary products
Polyethylene bags / Polypropylene reusable bags
What is it recycled into?
The Soft Plastic Recycling scheme is partnering with two New Zealand companies, Future Post and SaveBOARD.
Future Post NZ blends soft plastic materials with other plastics to make plastic fence posts, vegetable gardens and parking bumpers in Aotearoa New Zealand.
SaveBOARD is located in Hamilton and uses soft plastic materials to create sustainable building materials like insulation boards.
Photos: Future Post NZ
To learn more about the Soft Plastics Scheme you can visit www.recycling.kiwi.nz
See here what other items you can recycle even if they are not accepted through your kerbside collection.
Find out here everything you can recycle at The Junction (Colson Rd, New Plymouth) using the Recycling Wall!
