Strong polling support behind new plastic bag recycling scheme

A survey of New Zealanders by Horizon Research in June found that 61% respondents would take their soft plastic bags back to a drop off recycling bin at supermarkets and other locations if this service were provided.

And 78% would be likely to use this service if they knew that the soft plastic bags would be made into useful products such as park benches, recycling bins or fitness circuits.

The HorizonPoll is cited by the Packaging Forum as it launches the REDcycle Programme.

It is a supermarket-based recycling programme that invites consumers to gather together all their single-use shopping bags, as well as food and grocery packaging that isn’t able to be recovered via kerbside collection, and take them to their nearest supermarket drop off point next time they visit.

The collected soft plastic material is used as the resource to manufacture new recycled-plastic items such as sturdy outdoor furniture, signage and traffic control products suitable for use in schools, parks and other public spaces. The program was launched in Australia in 2012, and now has drop off points in around 580 supermarkets.

Horizon Research surveyed 1627 respondents nationwide between 16^th June and 26^thJune 2015. Respondents are members of the HorizonPoll online panel, recruited to match the New Zealand population aged 18+.