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Soft plastics recycling bins rolled out across Wellington

Environment Minister Nick Smith launches the soft plastics recycling scheme in Wellington. The project was launched at ...
RACHEL THOMAS/FAIRFAX NZ

Environment Minister Nick Smith launches the soft plastics recycling scheme in Wellington. The project was launched at Lyall Bay Warehouse on Wednesday.

A recycling solution for soft plastics has finally arrived in Wellington.

Bins for soft plastics - anything from plastic bags to chip packets, have been installed at 56 stores and supermarkets from Otaki to Wellington in a launch by the Packaging Forum and Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith. 

Every Countdown, Pak'n Save, Warehouse, New World and Moore Wilson's across the region is now equipped with a special bin for soft plastics.

Mark McClafferty, chief executive of Replas recycled plastic products, with a bead of recylced plastic which has been ...
RACHEL THOMAS/FAIRFAX NZ

Mark McClafferty, chief executive of Replas recycled plastic products, with a bead of recylced plastic which has been compressed and so it can be moulded into something new.

The launch comes months after a city council debacle over plastic bags.

In April, news broke that plastic bags and other soft packaging weren't being recycled alongside hard plastics, despite council instructions for residents to include soft plastics in their household recycling.

A park bench made from 15,000 plastic bags was donated to Wellington Zoo.
RACHEL THOMAS/FAIRFAX NZ

A park bench made from 15,000 plastic bags was donated to Wellington Zoo.

The council said lack of capacity at its recycling meant plastic bags simply couldn't be recycled. 

The launch in Wellington is part of a national partnership with the retail sector and packaging industry and is modelled on a programme in Australasia, Smith said.

The plastic is shipped to Replas in Melbourne, where it's melted down and recycled into park benches, bollards, and outdoor furniture.

Replas chief executive Mark McClafferty said the melted plastic is put through a "spaghetti head" then it's able to be moulded into other things. 

The plastic bollards are especially useful in places such as Rotorua, where sulfur erodes traditional wooden infrastructure, he said. 

Roughly 15,000 plastic bags were recycled into a park bench, donated to Wellington Zoo as part of the launch. 

The initiative is funded through grants of $700,000 to the Packaging Forum and $510,000 grant to Astron Plastics Group from the Government's Waste Minimisation Fund.

The recycling service has already been successfully rolled out in Auckland, Hamilton and Christchurch. 

"The longer-term objective is for 80 per cent of New Zealanders to have access to a drop-off facility for soft plastics within 20 kilometres of their home," Smith said. 

In June, we were at about 32 per cent, Smith said. 

He's not ruling out a levy on plastic bags, but said a levy would not address the wider problem of soft plastics. 

Plastic bags make up just 3 per cent of soft plastic waste, Smith said, so "it's wrong to focus on plastic bags".

By: RACHEL THOMAS

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