Wairarapa residents can now recycle their soft plastic packaging at Countdown and The Warehouse in Masterton. The new locations mean that nearly 80 percent of Kiwis have access to soft plastic recycling stations within 20 kilometers of their homes, with 200 locations nationwide.
“We are delighted to finally bring soft plastic recycling to the Wairarapa. This has been made possible because our partner, community enterprise Earthlink which is based in Lower Hutt, has extended their collection route. Earthlink will collect the plastic from stores, bale the bags and organise transport to Auckland where the soft plastic will be turned into fence posts by Future Post.” Said Lyn Mayes, Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme Manager.
"It's really exciting to be able to offer a soft plastic collection for the first time in Masterton. Our customers have been asking for a long time, so to be able to provide this service and help them, and our store, be more sustainable is a big win. Countdown has supported the Soft Plastic Recycling since it began and we're proud to be the 100th Countdown store involved. We're looking forward to rolling these bins out in even more parts of the country in the future." Said Adam Hall, Countdown Masterton Store Manager.
“We’re pleased to be working together with our industry partners to provide easy ways for Kiwis to recycle soft plastics as it’s an important step towards creating a plastic-free Aotearoa. The Warehouse Masterton store joins 31 of our other stores nationwide participating in this programme, and through our network, we’ve collected more than 8.8 million individual pieces of soft plastic in 2021.” Said David Benattar, Chief Sustainability Officer for The Warehouse Group.
Soft plastics collected in the Wairarapa will be recycled at Future Post’s plant in Waiuku, South Auckland.
