Revolutionising recycling
Check out five of our favourite companies that are thinking global and acting local when it comes to recycling plastic.
We often are asked for recommendations on how to reduce plastic waste. Our primary focus in all of our work is helping our customers do more with less. There’s a whole lot of measuring and testing that goes into this but the advancements we’ve made in product development and efficiency gains is certainly worth it.
Besides reduce their plastic use we also help our customers recycle it, with ongoing advocacy for the good work companies like Pioneer do around the country. It’s important to get this post-use process right, because far too much is still going offshore to meet unsavoury ‘solutions’. Clearly the best result is a one that can reduce, recycle and reuse New Zealand waste without this happening.
Yes, there’s still much to be done, and sometimes the challenge can seem overwhelming. So it helps that we’ve got innovators and originators like the five companies here to help inspire everyone in the battle against waste.
Kiwi companies leading the way
5: Critical
Since 2013 Critical have been working to transform used plastics into designer furniture and homeware and, in doing so, reducing waste and creating new employment opportunities. Now the Auckland-based social enterprise is rolling out a variety of clever pieces, including desks, chairs, side tables and more. Check out all the Critical Things here.
4: Zerobag
While the move from single-use plastic bags provides a clear message to New Zealand it’s certainly not a ‘problem solved’ scenario, as there’s now a risk of just as much waste from non-sustainable ‘long-life’ bags. Which is why Zerobag is great option. Initially made entirely from recycled parachutes, Zerobag 2.0 is made entirely from recycled bottles. Now all you need to worry about is losing them in the back of the car somewhere…
3: Wishbone
We don’t just recommend these cool bikes from the Wellington-based Wishbone because they’re made from post-consumer recycled plastic. The company believes ‘you should purchase only what you need and love’, which is particularly true for proud parents watching their children learn to ride on these simple, built-tough balance bikes. Forget scooters, segways and hoverboards – if they built these in adult we’d consider one of these for the office commute.
2: Future Post
New Zealand is a farming country with a lot of fences and a lot of fence posts. Replacing these wooden posts with something that’s impenetrable by water (no splitting or rotting) and non-conductive (no insulators required) seems like a good idea, right?
Enter Future Post – a proud Kiwi business using a trademarked process to turn domestic and commercial plastic waste into “premium fencing products that perform better, for longer”. UV stable and with a 50+ year life expectancy, these posts are here for tomorrow.
1: Subs
What could be more Kiwi than the good old jandal? Before they went the way of pavlova and were claimed by those scoundrels across the ditch jandals were invented by Morris Yock (or perhaps John Cowie) here in NZ. Now we’re leading the way once more with an all-new jandal designed with (quite literally) the beach in mind.
Subs Jandals are made from commercial, industrial and ocean plastic waste. That’s right – their clean-up teams take plastic waste from the beaches, up-cycle it into Subs formula pallets and then make premium flip-flops from this raw material. They’ll even take in your old pair, shred them and make new ones from this. What a fantastic idea!
