Soft plastic recycling in New Zealand — how the Soft Plastics Recycling Scheme works (and what’s next)

The Soft Plastics Recycling Scheme is a voluntary, industry-funded product stewardship programme that provides “recycle-at-store” collection points (the green-and-white bins) at participating supermarkets and retailers. Households collect their soft plastic packaging, ensure it’s clean, empty and dry, and drop it at a participating store or drop-off point. The scheme covers common items such as grocery bags, bread bags, frozen food bags, bubble wrap, confectionery and biscuit wraps, courier envelopes and similar flexible packaging — basically anything that can be “scrunched into a ball”.

Collected soft plastics are baled, transported and sent to processors. In recent years New Zealand has developed onshore processing capacity: processors such as Future Post and saveBOARD (and other local recyclers) turn post-consumer soft plastics into products like fence posts, garden edging, cable covers and other building or agricultural products. The scheme pays processors a gate fee for each tonne they recycle, and members fund the end-to-end collection and processing service.

The scheme publishes a store-locator listing participating retailers (Countdown, New World, Pak’nSave, The Warehouse and selected other stores and drop-off partners). Coverage has expanded progressively around the country, but availability varies by region — always check the store locator before you travel with a big bag of plastics.

These practical limits are why clear labelling, public education and improved packaging design are essential if we want higher capture rates and better quality recycled material.

• The scheme provides a nationwide consumer-facing collection network and has helped create local end-markets (onshore processors), which shortens supply chains and keeps value local.

• Contamination and sorting are constant issues — wet or food-soiled plastics and incorrect items reduce yield and increase cost.

• Capacity mismatch: public enthusiasm has sometimes outpaced processing capacity, meaning not all collected material can immediately be absorbed by local processors.

• Pilots and trials for expanded collection models (including kerbside trials) are being explored to improve access and capture rates; the broader national conversation about a Plastic Packaging Product Stewardship scheme could reshape how both soft and hard plastics are collected in future. Councils’ kerbside acceptance of rigid plastics is also evolving (notably with changes from early 2024 onward). These developments suggest a future where a mix of kerbside, store and commercial collections work together.

If you manufacture, brand or package products in soft plastic, there are clear ways to support the circular system:

• Join the scheme / become a member — membership funds collection and processing, and gives you the right to use the “Recycle at store” label on packaging. Members can also access guidance on packaging design to make sure their materials are compatible with the programme.

• Design for recyclability — minimise multi-material laminates, avoid compostable labels on conventional recycling streams, and work with suppliers to standardise polymer types where possible.

• Buy recycled content — create demand for end-market products made from recycled soft plastics (fence posts, saveBOARD products, etc.). That demand closes the loop and helps stabilise price and capacity for processors.

1. Keep a labelled bag at home for soft plastics and empty/clean/dry items before dropping them off.

2. Don’t include compostable or bioplastic bags — they look similar but are processed differently.

3. Use the scheme’s store-locator before you make the trip.

4. When possible, favour brands using clearer “Recycle at store” labelling or brands that commit to recycled content.

The Soft Plastics Recycling Scheme is a pragmatic, industry-led step toward keeping flexible packaging out of landfill and building local reprocessing capability. It’s not a silver bullet: material design, quality control, proper labelling, consumer behaviour and system scale all need to improve in parallel. For companies and councils, the next phase is integration — combining store collection with kerbside pilots, clear labelling (Australasian Recycling Label) and procurement policies that prefer products containing recycled feedstock.

If we align upstream packaging design with downstream processing and create stable demand for recycled output, soft plastics can become a valuable feedstock rather than an environmental headache. That’s the circular future worth building.