New Zealand second worst when it comes to recycling

New Zealand has been ranked the second worst recycling nation in a new study — in part because of its failure to recycle Pringles tubes and KitKat and Toblerone wrappers.

Consumer organisations from nine countries, including Consumer NZ, took part in the small trial by assessing how recyclable the packaging and labelling of 11 popular products were.

Consumer NZ found 57 per cent of the packaging from the 11 products (pictured) was not recyclable in New Zealand — only Brazil (92 per cent) fared worse.

Hong Kong (7 per cent), India (23 per cent) and Malaysia (37 per cent) were among the nations better at recycling.

“We have a lot of room for improvement,” Consumer NZ said. “Especially when our Aussie cousins beat us by a mile, with just 14 per cent of packaging not being recyclable.”

Amid a growing push for societies to leave a more sustainable footprint on the planet, New Zealand’s poor recycling didn’t fit with its own marketing campaigns, Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy said. “It certainly doesn’t line up with the clean green image we pride ourselves on.”

Packaging for five products was found to not be easily recyclable in Aotearoa, including KitKat, peanut M&Ms, Pringles, San Pellegrino and Toblerone. Pringles was particularly bad, with a tube made of mixed materials, plastic, cardboard, foil and aluminium that could not be easily separated, Consumer NZ said.

Of the five products not easily recyclable in New Zealand, three were soft plastics. “It is possible to recycle soft plastics here, but collection points aren’t widespread throughout the country yet,” the consumer group said.

KitKat spokesman Fraser Shrimpton earlier said it was possible for Kiwis to recycle soft plastics but they needed to drop them, clean and dry, into the Love NZ recycling bins at some supermarkets.

The trial found no product was 100 per cent recyclable.