The Soft Plastic Recycling Project has proven successful so far.
In the first 100 days since its launch, Aucklanders have dropped off over 10 tonnes of plastic packaging at New World, PAK’nSAVE, The Warehouse and selected Countdown stores in Auckland, equivalent to 1.6 million units of packaging.
Starting from March 1st, 22 supermarkets in Hamilton and Cambridge joined the project, with plans to expand to Canterbury and Greater Wellington region in the next few months.
Lyn Mayes, project manager, The Packaging Forum, said that North Auckland has contributed 39 percent of the total tonnage to-date, followed by Central and East Auckland with a 25 percent share. Customers at New World Eastridge and PAK’nSAVE Wairu are the ones who collected the most.
“We know that people around the country want to have the new recycling service in place now, but we need to move at a pace which allows us to provide stores with individual support as they introduce the new systems and implement a cost effective logistics solution,” said Mayes.
The programme is also a relevant part of Foodstuffs’ strategy to move their stores towards having 100 percent recyclable packaging for their customers. As for Countdown, national communications and corporate affairs manager James Walker emphasised that the chain has been delighted by shoppers’ response in the North Shore stores participating in the programme.
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