Soft plastic recycling is making a return to Alexandra.

Bread bags, bubble wrap and plastic wrappers can now be taken to Alexandra’s Countdown and The Warehouse, with a further site to be established at New World.

Bins will be located at each participating site and welcomes the type of plastic that is not suitable for the Central Otago District Council kerbside recycling service.

The initiative is a project by the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme, supported by AllWaste, which will collect and bale the plastic before being transported to Future Post’s new Blenheim facility.

From there it will be recycled into fence posts destined for farms and wineries, as well as garden frames for households.

Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme manager Lyn Mayes said historically residents have championed soft plastic recycling.

Prior to collections stopping in 2018, they were dropping off about 1000kg of soft plastics every month for recycling.

“There is a huge difference between the scheme back in 2018 and how we operate now,” she said.

It was previously sent offshore, but is now recycled in Aotearoa New Zealand and is 100% funded by scheme members.

Here’s a look at what soft plastics will be accepted at the new collection points. PHOTO: Supplied

Lyn said having the new Future Post operation in Blenheim has helped expand the service across the South Island, starting with Marlborough in July, Nelson and Tasman in August and Dunedin and Mosgiel in September.

The service is also available at Queenstown’s Countdown, New World and The Warehouse at Five Miles Shopping Centre.

In Wanaka it is available at New World Three Parks and The Warehouse.

In the last 12 months, the scheme has collected 657 tonnes of post-consumer soft plastic, which was the equivalent of 100 million bags, or wrappers. 

That was enough to be made into 67,000 Future Posts, or 335km worth of fencing, enough to fence the road from Timaru to Queenstown.

Central Otago District Council (CODC) welcomes the return of the scheme, which has been made available through an external service.

CODC waste minimisation officer Abi Hawkins said plastic recycling was often reported as the most confusing part of the kerbside service.

“The most common contaminant that we see in our kerbside yellow recycling bins is soft plastic.

“I think this is because people are starting to see that this is recyclable, but are unsure of where they should put it - and people genuinely want to do their best with recycling.”

She said now that there were collection bins in the district, people will be able to collect their plastic at home and return it when they visit stores they commonly shop at.

“We would hope that this will reduce the amount of this type of soft plastic that is being found in the kerbside recycling bins.”

Ultimately, trying to avoid single use plastic was the best option, she said.

“Even with this recycling scheme in place, it’s always good to try and avoid any type of single-use packaging and find ways to re-use things.”

Visit Soft Plastic Recycling to find out more, or visit Future Post NZ to learn more about where your soft plastic could end up.