Plastic and metal caps and lids can now be collected and recycled instead of ending up in landfill with the rollout of a new recycling programme.
Collections boxes for a variety of caps and lids are now available in selected New World, PAK’nSAVE and Four Square supermarkets in Auckland, Tauranga and Christchurch; and more regions and collection points will be available for Kiwis to drop off their caps and lids in the coming weeks.
New World Birkenhead in Auckland will officially be the first collection point for this scheme.
The Caps and Lids Recycling Scheme is an industry-funded programme operated by the Packaging Forum designed to ensure as many metal and plastic caps and lids as possible are diverted from landfill, and instead placed back in the recycling and circular economy.
Rob Langford, CEO Packaging Forum says as of 1 February 2024, all caps and lids irrespective of size, shape or material have been excluded from kerbside collections. This followed an announcement by the Ministry for the Environment in September 2023 that stated collections would be standardised across the country resulting in some materials being excluded, namely caps and lids, among other materials; and, unfortunately, this has resulted in a lot of good, recyclable material being sent to landfill instead of being recovered, and then recycled.
Rob says it is estimated that approximately 16,000 tonnes of caps and lids are in circulation annually – that’s approximately 900 trucks loaded with waste. Around 60% of household grocery items have a cap or lid to contain the product safely and securely.
“Almost 10 percent of all packaging material is made up of caps and lids. Given this sheer volume of plastic and metal caps and lids in the market, we needed to quickly come up with a sustainable solution to this problem that has arisen due to changes to waste collections,” says Rob.
“As a result, The Packaging Forum along with industry partners and some of our members, has designed a programme whereby the plastic and metal caps and lids which would have otherwise ended up in landfills across New Zealand, will instead be collected and recycled into new products and placed back into the recycling and circular economy.
Rob says the metal caps will be sent to metal recyclers in New Zealand for processing and recycling – the likes of Hayes Metals, Simms Metals and the Association of Metal Recyclers. The plastic lids will go to PACT Recycling in Auckland to be collected, locally granulated, washed, and dried then sent to Australia to be sorted and recycled to make a range of new products including wheelie bins, flowers pots, slipsheet and cable covers.
“Ideally, we would recycle these plastic lids in New Zealand, but we currently don’t have the infrastructure to separate out the plastic types and fully recycle the plastic caps locally, so our best option is to send it to our partner across the Tasman – we do, however, have full traceability of the material via our Australian recycling partner.
“Ultimately, we hope that all the material we collect, both metal and plastic, can be fully recycled locally for the manufacture of new products – for that we need the programme to grow. We’re industry funded so the more members we have, the more we can grow our programme through the country,” says Rob.
“We are very pleased to have our collection boxes in several New World, PAK’nSAVE and Four Square supermarkets in Auckland, Christchurch and Tauranga. We already have a lot of interest from community resource recovery centres and other environment hubs which is brilliant, and these will come online in the coming weeks. We are taking a managed rollout approach to ensure we have a robust logistics network in place; but we are keen to hear from any organisation that is keen to become a partner of the Scheme or to have collection boxes on site,” says Rob.
Debra Goulding, Sustainable Packaging Manager for Foodstuffs, the co-operative behind the nation’s New World, PAK’nSAVE and Four Square stores said: “We’re proud to be a foundation partner for this meaningful new recycling initiative. As a 100% New Zealand-owned and operated co-operative of local grocers, caring for our environment is a responsibility close to our hearts. There are two initiatives we’re focused on, the first is making it as easy as possible for our customers to recycle packaging. The second is ensuring our packaging is recycle ready, reusable, or home compostable, so these valuable packaging materials remain in circulation.
Zero Waste Network and Environment Hubs Aotearoa are participating in this programme to minimise waste to landfill. The two national networks are keen to be involved in the evolution of the programme to the materials being processed onshore and be part of the local circular economy. Locations from these networks and others will be ready to collect caps in the coming weeks.
“We were surprised that all untethered lids of any size and shape including margarine tub lids and food can lids etc were excluded from kerbside collections rather than just the tops which are too small to be captured through the recycling system. It is disappointing for our members, and for people at home wanting to recycle as much as possible, that they are no longer collected at kerbside, as they are in many other countries, and we do hope to see them eventually returned to kerbside collections soon so that valuable plastic and metal is collected for recycling in the way which consumers want,” says Rob.
“However, in the meantime this Scheme is filling a great need and is another real-world example of how industry can voluntarily collaborate and succeed in its responsibility to deal with the end-of-life recovery for packaging and support a move towards an onshore circular economy,” says Rob.
Kiwis located in a region that currently does not have collection boxes are encouraged to collect their caps and lids in anticipation of a collection box arriving in their region.
Targeting caps and lids was the next logistical step for The Packaging Forum which has real experience in delivering successful solutions to post consumer packaging materials in New Zealand, having operated several product stewardship schemes over many years, such as the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme, the Food and Beverage Carton Recycling Scheme, and the Glass Packaging Forum.
The Scheme can only accept plastic and metal caps and lids: beverage caps (beer and wine bottle caps), condiments (for example, jams and spreads), janitorial lids (cleaning products), cosmetic lids, margarine and ice cream tub lids, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical lids, hinged caps (often found on sauce bottles).
For more information on the Scheme and for drop off locations, visit https://capslids.recycling.kiwi.nz
Current locations include:
Auckland: New World Birkenhead, New World Albany, New World Hobsonville, New World Waiuku, New World Stonefield; PAK’nSAVE Mt Albert, PAK’nSAVE Royal Oak; Four Square Mangawhai Heads
Tauranga: PAK’nSAVE Tauriko, New World Mt Maunganui, New World Gate Pa, New World Brookfield
Christchurch: New World Prestons, New World Bishopdale, New World Wigram, New World Ilam
*Additional locations will be available on the website www.capslids.recycling.kiwi.nz
Recycling in Aotearoa New Zealand
A new national recycling programme aimed at increasing the recycling rates for food and beverage cartons has been launched today.
Food and beverage cartons include the type of carton that UHT or plant-based milk, juice boxes, and stock come in.
The Food and Beverage Carton Recycling Scheme (FBCRS) aims to divert as many of the cartons from landfill as possible, to be recycled into new, low carbon* building products right here in New Zealand.
The Scheme is the latest voluntary product stewardship programme operated by The Packaging Forum to be launched. The FBCRS is 100 percent funded by its members, and provides sustainable, end of life solutions for food and beverage cartons.
Currently there are more than 65 drop off locations from as far north as Ngunguru and as far south as Invercargill. Drop off locations As the FBCRS grows, there will be more collection points added across the country.
The Packaging Forum CEO, Rob Langford, says the new scheme is another real example of how industry can voluntarily collaborate and succeed in its responsibility to deal with the end-of-life recovery for packaging.
FBCRS members pay for the collection and recycling of the food and beverage cartons by the Scheme’s processing partners.
“It is estimated that approximately 5,000 tonnes of cartons (otherwise known as liquid paperboard) end up in our landfills every year, so we have been working together with our members to create a scheme that has longevity and the capacity to grow – the more cartons we collect, the more packaging we will divert from landfill, and give it a second life as a completely new product.”
Rob adds that the Food and Beverage Carton Recycling Scheme was initially started off as a recycling programme led by a manufacturer that took a leadership position to recover materials and find an end-of-life solution for its packaging. However, there was a strong desire from the wider industry to collect as many cartons as possible, so it expanded from a manufacturer-led programme to a wider industry-led initiative.
Food and Beverage Carton Recycling Scheme Manager, Graham Burrell, says it’s exciting to get the expanded scheme underway.
“We are currently working with one processor in Hamilton, saveBOARD, that is turning cartons into affordable, sustainable, low carbon* building supplies,” says Graham.
“The cartons are firstly shredded and then heated in a press, and the finished product looks much like a sheet of plywood. There is no added glue or resins, nor water, used in the process. The boards are trimmed to width and length with all the waste going back into the process – so there is zero waste; and all of this is done here in Aotearoa New Zealand with 100% renewable electricity.
“It really is brilliant to see a real-world example of the circular economy in action. What started life as a UHT milk carton could end up as a sheet of building material; and, as processing and recycling technology continues to develop, who knows what next for that humble food and beverage carton,” says Graham.
“Ultimately, the Scheme is driven by a key simple purpose – no food and beverage carton should go to landfill.
“Over time, we will also welcome more recycling and processing partners, and we look forward to more organisations becoming Scheme members so we can continue to collect as much material as possible. We are also very keen to hear from more locations that are keen to become drop off points – we currently have cafes, community hubs and recycling centres all keen to help us in our quest to collect as many cartons as possible,” adds Graham.
The FBCRS can only accept food and beverage cartons; and cannot collect paper, plastic (any type), coffee cups, ice cream cartons, glass, or metal. Any of these materials will contaminate the collections and can damage the processing equipment.
To prepare the cartons for collection and recycling, each one needs to be empty, clean, and flattened, and caps can be left on. If the carton has a straw it will need to be removed first.
Kiwi consumers can visit https://fbcarton.recycling.kiwi.nz/ to find out where they can drop off their cartons, and more about the FBCRS itself. Or https://home.recycling.kiwi.nz/.
Inaugural members of the FBCRS include: Tetra Pak, Sanitarium, Fonterra, Lamipak, Foodstuffs, SIG Combibloc, Danone, Otis Oat Milk, Woolworths New Zealand, Frucor Suntory and Goodman Fielder.
Targeting food and beverage cartons is the next logistical step for increasing recycling rates in this country by The Packaging Forum which has real experience in delivering successful solutions to post consumer packaging materials in New Zealand, having operated several product stewardship schemes over many years, such as the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme and the Glass Packaging Forum Scheme.
*https://www.saveboard.nz/
To apply, please complete the online form. We’ll be in touch to discuss your application. (For glass-specific projects, please apply above.)
The Packaging Forum has welcomed today’s announcement by the Government regarding changes to New Zealand’s waste system, including recycling and disposal of waste.
CEO Rob Langford says that while there is a need to further understand the details behind these changes, The Forum supports the intent to reduce waste and increase resource recovery in New Zealand.
“As a member-based organisation we are focused on developing and facilitating industry-led, sustainable solutions to packaging – including operating two successful voluntary product stewardship schemes – so we are supportive of changes that have a positive impact on resource recovery and help minimise waste.
“However, we look forward to more receiving more information, and having a greater understanding of the details on how these changes announced today will help further circular outcomes in New Zealand,” says Mr Langford.
The Packaging Forum has considerable experience in facilitating industry-led solutions including more than a decade’s experience with the development and management of voluntary product stewardship schemes for glass packaging, soft plastic, and public place recycling/litter. As well as managing and facilitating two voluntary product stewardship schemes (Glass Packaging Forum and the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme).
The Packaging Forum is currently working alongside the NZ Food & Grocery Council leading the co-design of the Plastic Packaging Product Stewardship Scheme (PPPS), which will make recommendations to the Government on requirements for producers, brand owners, importers, retailers, and consumers to take responsibility for collecting and dealing with plastic packaging.
“That scheme isn’t due to be finalised until June next year, so we do have concerns about making decisions now on kerbside collections relating to only collecting 1,2 and 5, starting next February as we don’t want to be making continued changes to the framework once it has been established,” says Mr Langford.
The Glass Packaging Forum is working hard to assist councils in the Hawke’s Bay ensure as much glass as possible continues to be recycled in Auckland following Cyclone Gabrielle’s effect on the region’s roading network.
An extra 420km and six hours have been added to the trip to get glass for recycling to Auckland via the only remaining road. We have released an immediate $25,000 in funding to assist with increased transport costs for Napier City Council, Hastings District Council – Te Kaunihera ā-Rohe o Heretaunga and Central Hawke’s Bay District Council.
The team will stay in close contact with councils to keep tabs on what further assistance is needed in the medium to longer term to prevent glass from going to landfill.
(Photo credit: John Cowpland Alphapix)
The Packaging Forum (PF) initiated a technical advisory group to determine the PF position on PFAS in food-contact packaging and determine, if possible, a pathway forward. This position has been developed from the recommendation of the PFAS Technical Advisory Group Final Report, October 22, completed by Kim Renshaw on behalf of the Packaging Forum as technical lead of the project.
Request for Proposal: Research
We are seeking proposals from organisations for the attached request for proposal (RFP) to supply tranches of research to the project. Organisations are invited to apply for one tranche of research up to and including all four tranches of research noting that we are currently only seeking proposals for 1,2 and 3. In summary:
1. The current state & problem definition: Plastic Packaging Data
2. The current state & problem definition: Internal flow of plastic packaging from placed on market to collection and processing or disposal
3. Scheme Options for New Zealand