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The Better Packaging Co says it has produced the world’s first mailer and poly bags using 100% recycled ocean bound plastic pollution.
03 November 2021
The Packaging Forum member announced through social media, on 2 November, it had developed the innovative bags made entirely from ocean bound plastic.
The company says it’s working with communities in some of world’s poorest and most polluted coastal regions to remove plastic pollution from their beaches and riverways before it reaches the ocean.
The poly bags are also recyclable through the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme, have a 200% carbon offset and are traceable to source, The Better Packaging Co says.
All Meadow Fresh one and two-litre milk bottles are now made using 30% recycled plastic.
26 October 2021
The company, which is owned by The Packaging Forum member Goodman Fielder and is one of New Zealand’s biggest milk traders, says the move to use recycled content in its bottles is a first for the country.
The bottles will be made using 30% rHDPE, reducing the amount of virgin plastic it uses for its bottles by 250 tonnes a year.
Meadow Fresh says the bottles are also “designing for recycling” as they don’t contain white resin – allowing them to be recycled into new plastic bottles and other food packaging.
The company is working to make all its packaging completely recyclable or reusable, and contain recycled content across its range of dairy products, by 2025 or sooner.
In January 2021 Meadow Fresh announced it’s entire New Zealand operation would move to 100% renewable electricity.
Read more at Stuff.co.nz
The Packaging Forum held its annual general meeting on 2 September via a virtual format again this year due changes to Covid-19 Alert Levels.
24 September 2021
The AGM included updates from the Forum’s two product stewardship schemes, the Glass Packaging Forum (GPF) and Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme (SPRS) as well as electing their steering committees.
Continuity was the order of the day with the GPF only seeing two changes as outgoing Chair Karen Titulaer (Villa Maria) stepped down and Heath Bowman (Pic’s Peanut Butter) joined for the first time.
The rest of the 2020-2021 committee members are reprising their positions
The SPRS steering committee retains the steady hand of Malcolm Everts (Cottonsoft) as Chair while Steffan Pedersen (Caspak), Keri-Anne Martin (Nestle) and Michael Anderson (Goodman Fielder) reprised their roles.
They are joined by new faces:
A big thank you to our outgoing steering committee members and to the new members, all of whom serve on a volunteer basis.
Mondelēz International will now source recycled plastic for its range of Cadbury chocolate blocks sold in New Zealand and Australia.
17 September 2021
Advanced recycling technology has enabled Cadbury to source the equivalent of 30 per cent of the plastic needed to wrap Cadbury Dairy Milk family block range from recycled sources.
The volume of recycled plastic being used is enough for 50-million family blocks of Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate which – if laid end-to-end – would stretch from Auckland to San Francisco.
Zespri has launched a new climate change strategy aimed at allowing it to lead the industry’s transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.
1 September 2021
The strategy identifies the climate risks it faces, outlines the targets it has set, and the actions it is taking to invest for the future.
Our 2020-2021 annual report, which looks at the Forum’s performance, activities and plans for the future, is now available to read.
18 August 2021
The report also looks at the work of our two accredited product stewardship schemes for container glass, and soft plastic as well as our technical advisory groups, advocacy work, collaborations and more.
A grant from The Packaging Forum has helped the Far North Environment Centre greatly reduce the volume of compostable and recyclable material from the Kaitāia Market going to landfill.
10 August 2021
The Centre has used their recent grant of $9,500 to provide bins for food waste, compostable packaging and recyclables at the market since the beginning of July.
The Centre’s Plastic Free Kaitāia Co-ordinator Waikarere Gregory says they began the project to coincide with Plastic Free July and collected two 60l bags of compostable material at one market alone, despite the poor weather. Previously only a general rubbish bin was available.
“It’s been a great success, reducing waste in the council landfill bins by up to 75% each week,” she says.
The compostable material collected from the market goes towards creating compost by KaitāiaCycle a collaboration with Good Life Projects (which works with youth and adults with intellectual disabilities to create bountiful gardens), CBEC Ecosolutions and Earthcare, Waikarere says.
The Centre identified the need for bins after running a trial at the market and found a strong zero-waste contingent, with most stalls using compostable or recyclable packaging. The trial also found many members of the public were keen to reduce waste to landfill, but a lack of bins meant compostable or recyclable material was going in general rubbish bins, she says.
“We’re also going to work with stallholders to help them move toward better packaging options that can be either recycled or composted, and ideally work towards a reusable system.”
The Centre took a zero-waste approach to the entire operation with the reusable bin liners sewn by local group Anō Anō Clothing Rescue, from old shower curtains, flags and material, Waikarere says.
She also uses an e-bike and trailer, on some days, to transport some of their gear to and from the market.
“We are currently looking for someone to employ to oversee the bins, but in the meantime are managing a roster system with our current contractors,” she says.
The Packaging Forum CEO Rob Langford says the Forum also supplied the Centre with a bin stand and signage from the Litter Less Recycling More project it was involved with to help make the bins more visible and prevent them toppling in high winds.
“We thought this was a great project because it not only keeps recyclable and compostable material out of landfill but helps with educating the public around putting waste in the right bins and not just choosing landfill as the default option,” he says.
Sustainable food packaging company Ecoware has rolled out its Compost Collect programme to seven cities around New Zealand, with the most recent being Christchurch.
22 July 2021
The company has partnered with Canterbury Landscape Suppliers (CLS) and recently launched Compost Collect in the Garden City.
Their certified compostable packaging is collected in bins placed at customer stores, such as coffee shops, and composted at CLS for commercial sale.
Find out more here.
Packaging designer Sealed Air is leading the way in recycled plastic innovation with an innovative rollstock made from 90% recycled content and food-grade recycled polypropylene (PP).
15 July 2021
The company has developed PET/PE food-grade sustainable packaging which comprises 65% post-industrial recycled content and 25% post-consumer recycled content, and is recyclable through soft plastics collections.
For fresh protein and dry good sectors that use PET/PE or KPET/PE materials, this presents an opportunity to switch to materials that are uniquely more sustainable. The solution meets the Australian Packaging Recyclability Evaluation Portal (PREP) compliance, and requires 90% less virgin resources to produce.
Sealed Air has also formed part of the global collaboration programme NEXTLOOPP, to create food-grade recycled polypropylene (PP) from post-consumer packaging.
According to Sealed Air, while PP is one of the most widely used plastics, it is downcycled to lower value (non-food) applications.
The NEXTLOOPP programme is already proving PP can be recycled into food-grade recycled packaging.
Read more about the work here.
Foodstuffs is trialing alternatives to single-use plastic produce bags during the month of July as it moves to lead in the upcoming plastics phase-out.
6 July 2021
The trial is part of the company’s commitment to Pledge 2025 – to make all its packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025 – and comes after Government announced a phase-out of difficult-to-recycle plastics and some single-use plastic items between 2022 and 2025.
New World, PAK ‘n SAVE and Four Square customers can expect to see a range of reusable alternatives on offer such as multi-use bags, nylon bags, mesh bags, organic cotton bags, and collapsible crates.
