Soft plastic recycling scheme restarts in Nelson region

The soft plastic recycling scheme is back in the Nelson region after a nearly five year hiatus, this time with direct benefits for local agriculture.

Collection points for soft plastics like bread bags have been set up at eight retailers across Nelson, Richmond and Motueka, with the plastic due to be recycled into fence posts destined for farms and vineyards in the region.

Supermarkets and other stores in Te Tauihu (top of the South Island) first introduced the recycling bins under the scheme in 2017, but the initiative was suspended nationwide at the end of 2018 after offshore processors stopped taking the plastics.

The scheme was gradually re-established across the North Island, and parts of Canterbury and Otago, as a Kiwi company that processed the waste into fence posts, Future Post, grew capacity at its plant in Auckland.

Last week, Future Post opened a new factory in Blenheim, taking soft plastics recently collected at drop off points in the town and from Christchurch.

Collections of the plastics would now also be taken to the factory from the new drop off points at The Warehouse in Nelson, Richmond and Motueka; Countdown in Nelson (Vincent St), Richmond and Motueka, and New World in Stoke and Motueka.

Shopping at The Warehouse in Nelson on Thursday, Jennie Meggs was excited about the return of the scheme – with nowhere local to recycle the plastics since the scheme was suspended.

She would take her soft plastic to the drop off points from now on, she said.

“I don’t want to throw it in the rubbish bin.”

Nelson resident Melenie Parkes was excited she no longer had to post her soft plastics to Future Post in Auckland, which she said was time-consuming and costly.

Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme manager Lyn Mayes said the new bins in Nelson and Tasman district took the number of collection points across the upper South Island to 13.

Enviro NZ would collect the soft plastic from the stores weekly, starting next week, bale it and transport it to Future Post, she said.

Mayes urged people recycling their soft plastic to “show consideration” by not dropping off too much all at once in “the early phase” of the scheme in the region.

The plastic needed to be clean, dry and empty, with details about what plastic could be dropped off on https://www.recycling.kiwi.nz.

A difference in the initiative since it was last in operation in the region, was that the scheme paid its processors to take and recycle the plastics, using funding from the scheme’s members who provided the bins for their customers – including banks and cafes.

That meant processors like Future Post could put products on the market that were competitive with other similar products, she said.

Enviro NZ’s Upper South Island regional manager, Jacob Stapleton, said it was “fantastic to be part of a local solution through the Soft Plastics Recycling Scheme that will make it easier to keep valuable resources in circulation”.

Enviro NZ would pick up the soft plastic from the stores in its new EV ute, he said.

Founder of Future Post Jerome Wenzlick said every Future Post contained around 1300 bags and wrappers.

“So, every time shoppers in Nelson, Richmond and Motueka fill one of the soft plastic collection bins, that’s another post off our production line from our new Blenheim facility which can come back to one of the many vineyards or farms around the wider region,” he said.

At full capacity, Future Post expected to be using around three tonnes of soft plastic per day at the factory – about 600 full supermarket bin liners.

It expected the main destination for these posts to be local vineyards in the near term, but that when the installation season “wound down” in a few months, it would be producing other posts for agricultural, horticultural, lifestyle fencing and raised garden boxes that would be sent throughout the South Island.

Nelson Mayor Nick Smith said the reintroduction of the scheme in the region was “a practical Kiwi solution to a difficult environmental problem”, and urged Nelsonians to collect their soft plastics at home and deposit them at one of the collection points.

Tasman Mayor Tim King said it was “great to see industry taking responsibility for product packaging”.