Kimberly-Clark joins soft plastic recycling program

Kimberly-Clark New Zealand has joined the Public Place Recycling Scheme — an initiative that allows consumers to take their single-use soft plastic food and grocery bags to special recycling bins located in supermarkets or retail drop-off points. The collected soft plastic is then used to make new items, like outdoor furniture, signage and playgrounds.

The new recycling bins will be in New World, PAK’nSAVE and The Warehouse stores in Auckland by Labour Day and will then roll out to include Countdown stores with further expansion to Hamilton, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago, Bay of Plenty, Manawatu and other regions across the next three years. The contract for servicing Auckland’s stores has been awarded to Abilities Group, a community group that provides meaningful work and opportunity for personal development for people with disabilities.

Launched by New Zealand’s Packaging Forum in July, the recycling scheme has been funded by industry with matched funding from the government’s Waste Minimisation Fund. It follows the success of the Australian version of the program, which has been run by REDcycle since 2012.

Kimberly-Clark New Zealand joins other major brands that have committed to the program, including Cottonsoft, Huggies, Kleenex, New Zealand Post, Pams, SunRice, Astron and Elldex Plastics. According to the company’s general manager, Sharna Heinjus, “Our partnership with The Packaging Forum and the government’s Love NZ recycling brand is very much aligned with our sustainability and corporate social efforts, with a deep commitment to help reduce the impact of our products on the environment.”

Image caption: Kimberly-Clark New Zealand General Manager Sharna Heinjus.