Innovative New Zealand company Future Post is enabling soft plastics in Auckland to be manufactured into fenceposts, through the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme. An alternative to standard timber fenceposts, which are traditionally treated with toxic copper chrome arsenate, these plastic fenceposts are recyclable, have a 50+ year life expectancy and are suitable for use on organic farms. The aim, of course, is to avoid buying single-use plastic products in the first place. (Remember the waste hierarchy: reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, dispose.) But if you’re in Auckland and have single-use soft plastic products you haven’t been able to avoid consuming, you can keep these out of landfill. Bring soft plastics such as courier packs, chocolate and muesli bar wrappers, cereal box liners, and bread and fresh produce bags to recycling bins at selected Countdown, The Warehouse and Huckleberry stores. To check whether packaging can be recycled, scrunch it into a ball. If it doesn’t bounce back, it’s most likely recyclable.
