Celebrate the Holidays Without Becoming the Waste Reduction Grinch
Simple tips to enjoy the season while keeping waste to a minimum.
Christmas cheer shouldn’t come with a side of landfill. From torn wrapping paper to empty bottles and leftover food, waste can pile up quickly during the holidays. The Packaging Forum offers tips on how we can keep the festive spirit high while keeping waste low.
During the summer holidays, New Zealanders generate around 30% more waste—approximately 25,000 extra tonnes, or 5kg per person, the equivalent of five Christmas puddings each. [1]
Spending also spikes. In the first 14 days of December last year alone, Kiwis spent $1.65 billion [2], largely on food, drinks, and Christmas gifts—much of which ends up as waste.
While the scale of the problem can feel overwhelming, there are simple, practical steps Kiwis can take to reduce Christmas waste and keep it out of landfill and the environment, says Craig Miller, CEO of The Packaging Forum.
Recycling glass, plastic, caps and lids, and paper is one of the easiest ways to make a difference—and no matter where you’re travelling in New Zealand, recycling options are available. However, popular holiday destinations often experience population surges, putting pressure on local waste and recycling services.
For this summer, New Zealand expects strong tourism recovery, with Auckland Airport anticipating more than 2.5 million travellers during its peak December-January period (Monday 8 December 2025 until Sunday 18 January 2026). That includes around 1 million domestic and 1.5 million international travellers [3].
To cope with increased demand, many councils—particularly in holiday hotspots—boost kerbside collections and provide public recycling bins, making it easier to recycle on the go. Checking your local council website for collection days can help avoid missed recycling.
Craig says that despite these increases in collections, there has unfortunately also been a significant rise in recyclable glass, cans, and plastics ending up in landfill—especially when people are away from home.
“Naturally, sales of drink products increase over the festive season. What many Kiwis don’t realise,” Craig explains, “is that glass is 100% recyclable, and most glass recovered in New Zealand is recycled into new glass products—right here in New Zealand.”
New Zealand also has strong circular solutions for waste. By recovering materials like paper, plastic, metal, food and beverage cartons, and glass and turning them into new products, waste is diverted from landfill and given real value by being recycled into new products.
Most of us regularly recycle glass and plastic bottles, and of course paper, but it’s easy to recycle plastic bags, caps and lids too.
Craig says the Packaging Forum operates several voluntary recycling schemes in New Zealand – otherwise known as product stewardship schemes – devised to reduce waste and support New Zealand’s circular economy.
“Our voluntary recycling programmes are funded by our members, and have been developed to provide sustainable, end of life solutions for packaging such as soft plastic bags and wrappers, metal and plastic caps and lids, food and beverage cartons and glass bottles and containers,” says Craig.
Food and beverage cartons used for the likes of juices, UHT and plant-based milks can be collected and are recycled into sustainable buildings supplies at local manufacturer saveBOARD.
New Zealanders can also recycle their metal and plastic caps and lids – these items can no longer go in the kerbside recycling bin but they can be dropped off at selected sites across the country to be recycled in other products.
Soft plastics collected nationwide are recycled by local processors into products such as fence posts and building materials. In the past year alone, 900 tonnes of soft plastic were recycled into 92,000 fence posts by Future Post. Soft Plastic is also mixed with food and beverage cartons to be recycled into saveBOARD products. These innovative companies are making great products so if you’re doing some landscaping or home improvements, or need a great Christmas – check out Future Post and saveBOARD products, and buy recycled this holiday season.
There are soft plastic drop-off points across New Zealand, including major holiday destinations such as the Bay of Islands, Coromandel, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Queenstown Lakes, Marlborough, Nelson, Tasman, and Akaroa. This includes not only food packaging, but also soft plastic wrapping from gifts and cards, as well as plastic courier bags from online shopping.
Another effective way to cut waste—and often save money—is to reuse and choose refillable options wherever possible. Take a reusable water bottle to the beach or park; and your reusable coffee cup to the local coffee cart or café – bonus is less waste and a warmer coffee for longer.
The Packaging Forum regularly supports several community reuse initiatives, including funding mobile wash trucks since 2022 in regions such as Northland, Nelson, Marlborough, New Plymouth, and Wellington. These trucks help events reduce single-use plastics by enabling efficient reuse systems. Keep an eye out for wash trucks at summer festivals around the country—and enjoy the holidays while keeping waste to a minimum.
“The Forum has also supported a reuse trial with Recircle, using smart bin technology that allows consumers to return containers for refill; and if you’re at Waihi Beach this summer, check out the refillable water stations which the Forum also contributed funding to,” says Craig.
Food waste is a major contributor to our rubbish and the average New Zealand household throws away around $1,364 worth of food every year;[4] and, It is estimated around 50,000 tonnes of food waste is sent to the landfill in the week after Christmas.[5] Easy ways to reduce food waste over Christmas include making a shopping list so you only buy the fresh goods you need and freezing leftovers. Check out Love Food Hate Waste for more tips on reducing food waste.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Kristie Penwarden
The Packaging Forum
021 575 222
[1] https://wellington.govt.nz/news-and-events/news-and-information/our-wellington/2024/12/top-tips-for-a-sustainable-christmas?utm
[2] https://worldline.com/en-nz/home/top-navigation/media-relations/press-releases/pr-2024_12_16
[3] https://corporate.aucklandairport.co.nz/news/latest-media/2025/flying-into-busy-summer–over-2-5-million-expected-through-akl
[4] https://lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz/food-waste/what-we-waste/
[5] https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/12/24/kiwis-urged-to-limit-food-waste-this-christmas/
