Supermarkets’ plastics recycling scheme in crisis
The popular soft plastics recycling collection at supermarkets is being suspended until next April, because there is nowhere for the plastic to go.
This year, the amount of plastic sitting in storage containers around the country grew to 400 tonnes after the Melbourne-based processor it was shipped to stopped accepting New Zealand’s plastic.
Soft Plastic Recycling announced yesterday that its collection schemes would be suspended over the summer months, from December 31. The backlog of recycling awaiting processing had built up across the country, particularly since a Chinese ban on foreign waste came into effect at the start of this year, it said.
In a statement on its website, Soft Plastic Recycling said it needed to take short-term action to ensure the long-term success of the scheme. It planned to resume a ‘‘sustainable service’’ in April 2019.
‘‘We’ve been extremely encouraged by Kiwis’ commitment to recycling their soft plastics, yet changes to global recycling have meant that we’re now collecting more than we can currently process in New Zealand. A suspension to the service will give us time to work with existing processing partners to build capacity, as well as find new and innovative processing solutions.’’
Last year New Zealanders dropped off more than 365 tonnes of soft plastic bags for recycling, a total of 91 million bags. Soft Plastic Recycling said the removal of singleuse supermarket bags, which will come into effect on January 1, would help to reduce plastic volumes.
The announcement has not
‘‘. . . the supermarkets will be super busy now having to deal with grumpy customers dropping off their soft plastics after December 31.’’ Lesley Ottey, Eco-Educate
impressed those in the recycling sphere.
Lesley Ottey, of Eco-Educate, said the timing was dreadful, with many people already in holiday mode and unaware of the changes.
‘‘Schools are closed, councils are winding down. And the supermarkets will be super busy now having to deal with grumpy customers dropping off their soft plastics after December 31.’’
Recycling advocate Karen Driver said it was only a matter of time before the scheme ran into difficulties. ‘‘It was never a sustainable solution . . . Obviously, there wasn’t a real market for the products being produced.’’
The recycled plastic was supposed to be used to make things like park benches and play equipment.
‘‘There should have been solutions set up or planned for before it got funding, but then an ‘ambulance at the bottom of the cliff’ solution should not have been funded,’’ Driver said.
Earlier in the week it was reported that some supermarkets had stopped collecting customers’ soft plastic recycling due to the high volume.
The Packaging Forum spokeswoman Lyn Mayes said six stores had withdrawn from the programme out of 380.