Plastics 3,4,6 & 7 no longer recycled in kerbside bins

These plastics are no longer being recycled at some Material Recovery Facilities due to a combination of things:

• The low volume of these materials collected from around New Zealand (compared to other countries)
• New Zealand's distance from overseas export markets
• The overseas plastic markets already being over-supplied by other countries that collect much larger volumes of these materials
• A lack of onshore processing facilities.

New Zealand has limited infrastructure to recycle plastics 3, 4, 6, and 7. Prior to 2018, these plastics were shipped overseas to offshore companies for resource recovery or recycling. However, changes in the demand of these plastics in overseas markets, combined with the Basel Convention Plastic Waste Amendments from the United Nations Environment Programme that now prevents overseas trading in contaminated plastics, meant that it was more difficult to sell these materials to international markets where there is more infrastructure to support the recycling process.

New Zealand has recycling processing plants that can recycle paper, glass, aluminium, tin, and plastics 1, 2 and 5. The majority of plastic 3, 4, 6 and 7 products will go to landfill (except for a small amount used by innovative start-ups) until there is new recycling infrastructure available in New Zealand to support their recycling or development into other items.

Many companies and plastic packaging industries are moving toward using plastics 1 and 2, because of their higher recyclable value and cost effectiveness. Easy-to-recycle plastics (for example plastics 1, 2 and 5) are worth more than harder-to-recycle plastics (for example 3, 4, 6 and 7). Most food packaging in supermarkets is now made of plastics 1 and 2, and it is now very uncommon to see food packaged in plastics 3, 4, 6 and 7. Plastic 1 (PET), for example, has completely replaced plastic 6 (polystyrene) in meat packaging.

How do I tell what kind of plastic items are made of?

You can often see the type of plastic an item is made from by reading the number on the inside of the triangle symbol, usually found embossed at the bottom of the container or on the product label.

How can I use my influence as a consumer to encourage industry to move toward using plastics 1, 2 and 5?

Buying fewer products made from plastics 3, 4, 6 and 7 is the best way you can affect change. Avoidance is the always the most effective way to minimise waste in the waste hierarchy. Avoid having the plastic in the first place, as this means you do not have to dispose of it once you have finished using it.

Reducing your use of these plastic items is the second most effective way to minimise your waste output. Using the item less, where possible, means that you are throwing less of it away.

Will plastics 3, 4, 6 and 7 ever be able to be recycled in NZ?

Several companies have been trying to create on-shore plastic recycling solutions in New Zealand. For example, Future Post is turning waste plastics in fence posts. However, the current scale of these operations does not yet deal with the volume of plastic waste we generate.

On 1 July 2020, Central government announced $124 million funding for the waste sector in New Zealand. Part of the funding will be used to create new plastic recycling infrastructure and community resource recovery facilities in New Zealand.