Packaging that is reusable, recyclable or compostable still needs to be put in the right places for those things to happen. And sadly, there are still a small number of people who choose to litter.
The goal of our Recycling and Litter Advisory Group is to increase access to public place recycling and change littering behaviour through our programmes and partnerships.
When we understand what is littered and in what volumes, as well as attitudes to litter and recycling, we can decide what our priorities and targets need to be. We partner with data collectors who provide information we can rely on.
We fund projects with a goal of increasing access to out of home recycling and rubbish facilities, making it convenient and simple for people to do the right thing with their litter.
Education is an important part of changing the behaviour of people who litter.
We fund education and behaviour change projects and work with partners to help get the right messages to the right people.
If you or your organisation have a project that aligns with our goal of reducing litter and inreasing out of home recycling rates, you can apply to our contestable fund for a grant to assist you.
We’ve recently funded a pilot project that will collect bottle tops and screw caps from things like wine and beer bottles, with an ultimate goal of upcycling the collected bottle tops into recycling bins for public places.
The pilot project is in the planning stages. Once the pilot is complete, a follow up evaluation will examine the feasibility of establishing it as a permanent scheme a few months later.
Watch this space for updates…
A recent survey on public place recycling and litter has seen a mixed bag of results, with awareness around public bins increasing but willingness to make extra effort to use them declining.
While sports venues don’t operate every day, when there is an event it can often generate a significant amount of recycling and rubbish.
Making recycling and proper disposal of waste in the public space easy and intuitive is the primary focus of the Public Place Recycling Scheme.
The Litter Less Recycle More project is a joint initiative between The Packaging Forum and Be a Tidy Kiwi.
Read the 2020 report
In March 2020 we commissioned independent research about the awareness and use of our public place recycling bins.
Read about the research results
Our Advisory Group team represents a cross section of stakeholders, including members, with expertise in public place recycling and litter reduction.
The group operates under our Public Place Recycling Scheme, which is accredited by the Ministry for the Environment, and reports against our key performance indictors to the ministry each year.
Read our latest accreditation report
