First and foremost, we are about reducing all waste, especially plastic…but if you do have soft plastics in your households and work places, then they can be collected and then recycled. 

The Love New Zealand Soft Plastics Recycling programme was launched last week in Dunedin.

Soft plastics and soft packaging includes basically anything made of plastic that can be scrunched into a ball. This includes shopping bags, bread bags, frozen food bags, food wrap, toilet paper packaging, confectionery and biscuit wrap, chip bags, pasta and rice bags, courier envelopes, shopping bags and sanitary hygiene packaging.

They can be recycled at the 14 New World, Countdown, FreshChoice, Pak’n Save and The Warehouse stores in Dunedin and Mosgiel.

What can you do?

Reduce and Reuse first and foremost.

Collect all the soft plastics which you use at home and work. Make sure the bags are empty and dry.

Drop them into the Love NZ Soft Plastics Recycling bins at participating stores.

The Green-Gold Enviroschools Award is an acknowledgement of our school community success so far and our initiatives for the future. Thanks for helping us make a difference to our environment.

Creina Beaman

OGHS Enviroschools

http://www.recycling.kiwi.nz/soft-plastics/store-locator/

 ODT Online Fri, 23 June 2017


Recycling for plastic packaging arrives
By John Lewis
All those plastic bags floating around after shopping expeditions can now be recycled under a joint initiative between the retail sector, the packaging industry and the Government. The Love New Zealand Soft Plastics Recycling programme was launched in Dunedin yesterday, and will enable soft plastics and soft packaging such as shopping bags, bread bags, frozen food bags and food wrap to be recycled at the 14 New World, Countdown, FreshChoice, Pak’n Save and The Warehouse stores in Dunedin and Mosgiel. Associate Environment Minister Scott Simpson said the programme was already running in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Canterbury. […] The $700,000 contribution from the Government’s waste minimisation fund was being matched by contributions from retailers and some suppliers, bringing the total project funding  to more than $1.6million. […] Cargill Enterprises would collect the recycled plastics from the shops. 

Soft Plastics Recycling 
The Love NZ Soft Plastics Programme is about informing New Zealanders about how to keep plastic bags and packaging out of landfill. Collect all the soft plastics which you use at home, make sure the bags are empty and dry and drop them into the Love NZ Soft Plastics Recycling bins at participating stores.

The project is supported by major brands including Asaleo Care, Ceres Organics, Coca Cola Amatil, Cottonsoft, Fonterra, Frucor, George Weston Foods, Goodman Fielder, Griffins, Hubbards, Kathmandu, Kelloggs, Kimberly-Clark, Lululemon, Mars, Mother Earth, Mondelez (Cadbury), Nestle, New Zealand Post, Pams, Pure Delish, Simplot (Birds Eye), Spicers, SunRice and Wrigleys; Amcor Flexibles, Astron, Coveris, Snell Packaging & Safety with many others committed to joining the programme. Soft plastic bags are not currently collected for recycling by councils because they can contaminate the recycling process. New Zealanders use over 1.6 billion plastic bags in the home every year. The project takes all soft plastic bags including bread bags, frozen food bags, toilet paper packaging, confectionery and biscuit wrap, chip bags, pasta and rice bags, courier envelopes, shopping bags, sanitary hygiene packaging – basically anything made of plastic which can be scrunched into a ball. Customers can bring their used soft plastics back to store and put them in the recycling bin.