Aim to improve child safety

Parents could be unintentionally putting their children at risk by using out of date car seats.

Cambridge residents are being urged to check the dates when they purchased their childrens car restraints.

More than 40,000 child car restraints reach their expiry date each year in New Zealand.

A Hastings-based company 3R Group has initiated the ‘SeatSmart’ recycling scheme to take restraints out of circulation.

Most old car seats either end up in landfill, passed down to others or on the shelves of the local op shop and ‘SeatSmart’ recycling schemes manager Toni Bye wants to see less children put at risk.

‘‘Many people aren’t aware that children’s car seats have a limited life span of six to 10 years,’’ said Bye.

‘‘For a variety of reasons the materials can degrade and weaken over time, which may affect how they would perform in an accident.’’

Under the scheme expired or damaged seats can be safely taken out of circulation and the materials recycled or reused elsewhere.

So far SeatSmart has been introduced in eight centres: Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Hastings, Wellington, Hutt Valley, Nelson and Christchurch.

In Hamilton, unwanted seats can be taken to Baby on the Move at 108A Rostrevor St.