Soft Plastic Recycling Back in Rangiora

Councillor Robbie Brine, Waimakariri District Council’s Solid Waste Portfolio Holder, hailed the scheme as an excellent example of local businesses collaborating to reduce their impact on the environment.

“This is great news for the stores and local residents who have continued to ask when Soft Plastics Recycling would be coming back to the Waimakariri District - especially since the scheme returned to stores in nearby Christchurch City.”

The bins have arrived in-store and are available to take clean, dry soft plastics. Kilmarnock Enterprises are ready to start collecting the bags of packaging from Rangiora stores from 11 April, and will bale and palletise the plastics which are then transferred on to Auckland for processing. The soft plastics will be manufactured into posts for farms, vineyards and gardens by Future Post, which is expanding its Auckland operations due to high demand, and is keen to return Rangiora’s soft plastic waste back to the region as fence posts.

Packaging Forum chief executive Rob Langford said it was important to integrate collections where possible into existing distribution networks, in order not to add an additional layer of carbon costs.

The Packaging Forum was also looking to expand the scheme nationwide, Mr Langford said.