Tetra Pak and LoveNZ increase recycling options in NZ

Tetra Pak has teamed up with recycling advocate LoveNZ to help New Zealanders recycle coffee cups and cartons, as well as cans and plastic bottles, outside the home.

LoveNZ provides strategically placed recycling bins around the country and aims to raise awareness of recycling in NZ. While cartons can be recycled via kerbside systems in some parts of the country, there has been no option for consumers to recycle cartons and coffee cups away from home. Around 384 million paper-based containers are used every year in New Zealand, creating large quantities of waste that isn’t always recycled.

The expansion of the LoveNZ public place recycling system to include cartons and cups was the result of a collaboration between Tetra Pak and other stakeholders, including Huhtamaki, Coca-Cola, BP, Visy Recycling and Transpacific Industries Group (NZ). The program will initially be available only in Auckland and Christchurch.

Cups and cartons that are deposited into the LoveNZ bins will be baled and shipped to recycling mills in Australia, India and Korea, where they are soaked in water to separate the paper from the plastic or aluminium layers. The paper content is turned into cardboard boxes, toilet paper, tissues and notebooks. The aluminium foil content can be turned into roof tiles and plastic pots or gasified to make energy.

“Recycling is not an option for Tetra Pak - it is an obligation,” said Cheryl Speechley, Environment Manager for Tetra Pak Oceania. “We work actively to facilitate the expansion of carton recycling, and recycling success is one of the measures we use to assess management performance.”