PlasticFools

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...