PlasticFools

This business based in Sydney, Australia, claims to be able to find a way to recycle everything that usually can't. They've just started a pen recycling programme here in NZ. https://www.terracycle.com/

Long article detailing what happens to our recycling material in Christchurch after the Council collects them. https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/114490664/where-does-your-recycling-go-from-the-yellowlidded-bin

This is a really good article showing although we can all do our part, focusing only on our own behaviour isn't enough. https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/28/18629833/climate-change-2019-green-new-deal

Discovered two great articles today, with some positive talk about changes happening already (with much more to do, of course): Why is there still so much plastic in our supermarkets? 'Food in the nude' at New World amid war on plastic waste Also link to the New Zealand Plastic Packaging Declaration One really interesting quote about plastic wrapped cucumbers; it isn't as easy as one might think to just say "Stop doing that!" Take a cucumber wrapped in plastic. Ridiculous, right?  Not so, says Paul Evans, CEO of industry body WasteMINZ. “Everyone goes ‘this is terrible, it’s unnecessary.’ But that plastic is necessary to extend the life of the cucumber, shield it from bruises, protect it during transport and keep it safe from contaminants,” he says. “People don’t realise that wasting that cucumber is far more environmentally damaging than the bit of plastic around it. It’s had water and energy put into it, it’s been transported to market – maybe fr...

RNZ talking to Dr Elspeth MacRae of SCION about the options for substituting petroleum based single use plastic packaging. SCION's work on biopolymers and biochemicals Mentioned in this article, two manufacturers of alternatives to petrocarbon-based plastic, bio-plastic: NatureWorks , Total Corbion Also: Plastics NZ  |  Custom-pak | PackNZ |  ImaginPlasticsNZ , Microbial PHAs

Good to see some information about where so called "recycled materials" are going in NZ. In this RNZ article   a list if provided of what happens to stuff from Wellington. Still pretty shocking to see plastics 3 – 7 are still going to Asia. We have to stop doing this. Where Wellington's recycling ends up Aluminium and steel cans go to   Macaulay Metals and are then sent overseas to be reprocessed. Glass is mixed with other raw materials and fed into a furnace where it is melted down to make bottles and jars. Paper goes to the Oji Fibre Solutions mill in Penrose, Auckland (this mill uses 100 percent recovered paper to make corrugated cardboard). Cardboard goes to the Oji Fibre Solutions mill in Kinleith, Tokoroa (this mill uses recycled cardboard and new wood fibres to make new cardboard). Clear PET (grade one) goes to Flight Plastics in Lower Hutt. Most milk bottles go to Budget Plastics in Palmerston North. Most other mixed plastics are sent to Malaysia, In...