Soft plastic recycling has been a bonus for many households but, unfortunately, only one private company in Aotearoa downcycles the soft plastic to make a limited range of products which then can’t be recycled again. They’re at capacity with their supermarket programme and just can’t take any more. All that plastic they do recycle (or downcycle) is still in the environment (they make fencing materials which would otherwise be made with wood).

Another trap is compostable plastic, which is not recyclable and contaminates recycling streams. You need to look for the recycling logo to see if it is Home Compostable – in which case it can go (cut into strips) into your home compost - or Commercially Compostable. Commercially Compostable soft plastic goes into the rubbish bin.

Reduce soft plastic packaging

A much better option is to reduce our soft plastic which comes in, and around, so many things we buy including:

• Yoghurt lids and pouches
• Frozen vegetables, pizzas, chips, and single ice creams
• Bread, wraps, and rolls
• Pies and pastries
• All those plastic seals under lids!
• Chips, popcorn, biscuits and crackers
• Multi pack wrappers: three packs of beans, multi packs of bottles etc.
• Bubble wrap, air cells, courier bags and packaging tape
• Zip loc bags, sandwich bags, bin liners
• Pasta, rice and spaghetti
• Pet food, dry and wet
• Potatoes, new potatoes, onions,
• Mesh produce bags for onions, avocadoes etc.
• Lettuce, cucumbers, ready-made salads
• Individually wrapped snacks: chips, muesli bars, chocolate bars, sweets etc.
• Individual coffee and hot chocolate sachets

Avoid soft plastics althogether

• Head to the supermarket bulk bins with reusable bags
• The Rubbish Trip has created a regional map of bulk food stores where you can stock up on a bigger variety of ingredients without the plastic. Store them in saved glass jars or plastic containers or raid a relative’s cupboards for more.
• Look for refillable packaging i.e., shampoo, conditioner, dishwashing liquid.
• Look for cardboard, glass or tin packaging.
• Make your own instead of buying i.e., bread, yoghurt, crackers, biscuits, popcorn.
• Grow your own vegetables or buying unpacked from a farmer’s market.
• DIY your single serves by buying a big pack, for example of yoghurt, nuts, chips etc. and dividing them into containers for lunches.

• Use up the products you already have, before buying plastic-free replacements. This might be a good time to offer to clean out your parents’ bathroom cabinet and score some freebies too!
• Shampoo, conditioner and soap bars all save plastic. Look for naked soap bars with no packaging, The Sustainability Trust has some good options. The next best is soap packaged in cardboard only.
• Or try "no poo" and wash your hair with baking soda mixed with a little water. Allow 4 to 6 weeks for any new hair routine to 'settle' in and create lush locks.

Get your fluoride fix with toothpaste tablets, there are many brands and flavours out there in cardboard and even bulk packaging.

There are lots of options for plastic-free deodorants that are great for your body too! Brands like Ethique, Aotearoad, Raw Nature and others come in cardboard tubes that you can compost and have a huge variety of fragrances and fragrance-free options.  Underbalm, Ethique and Oh Goodness also make handy travel-sized deodorants that are liquid-free.

Makeup remover wipes are easy to make yourself. That spendy micellar water you buy is a mixture of oil and water in a fancy plastic bottle. You can use a jar of coconut oil from the supermarket straight on your skin (great for sensitive skin) or mix one part olive oil to four parts water, in a clean bottle and make your own super soft washable makeup remover pads from an old t-shirt or a towel.

More products to make at home

• DIY reusable sheet mask
• Toilet cleaning bombs
• Vanilla shaving cream

• Buying compostable bin liners can set you back $100 a year and add to landfill waste. Check out YouTube for hacks on making yours out of newspaper and save money.
• Reuse containers, bottles, and jars - any bottle can be a water bottle!
• DIY a keep cup from a jar and rubber bands for hot and cold takeaway drinks - you don't need to spend lots of money to be green.
• Reusable bags are only a great alternative to plastic if you keep reusing them. Find ways to remember them to keep your footprint low.
• Fill a mug with 1 cup of white or citrus vinegar, see instructions below, sit it in the top rack of your empty dishwasher and run through the hottest rinse cycle to clean and freshen your dishwasher.

• 1/2 cup of white or citrus vinegar instead of fabric softener will keep your smalls and towels fresh.
• A Cora Ball and Guppy Friend can reduce the plastic microfibres from your washing going into our water supplies – and food.

Check out our Ordering Guide (Page 8) in the Sustainability Events Guide to find plastic free tea bags or, even better, buy loose leaf tea.

• The most sustainable way to drink coffee is instant – especially if it’s Fair Trade.
• The next is plunger or using a reusable stainless steel coffee pod in your Pod Machine. There are many different reusable pods available now to fit lots of machines from Nespresso, to Dulce Gusto to Vertuo Plus and they make a great gift for the hard-to-buy person.
• Bulk, packaging-free tea, coffee and hot chocolate can be purchased from bulk stores like Good For or look for coffee packed in paper bags.

Reuse your coffee grounds for a body scrub or tip them on the garden.

• Get a set of rechargeable batteries for common household items like your remote controls, mice, clocks, etc. A recharger that can charge AA and AAA batteries and a set of batteries will cost about $50-$60 but Panasonic Eneloop batteries can be charged and used up to 2,100 times.
• Wired keyboards and mice don’t need batteries and are a more sustainable option.
• Get big documents sent to your Kindle or eBook for easy reading without the printing.
• Save money and give hardware a new life by shopping for your next piece of IT equipment at Remarkit
• Look for FSC Certified printer paper, especially options with a recycled paper component to them.

• Find your nearest recycling station
• Victoria University of Wellington: Cleaning and Waste Services (Staff)
• Wellington City Council: Rubbish, recycling and waste
• Porirua City Council: Rubbish & recycling
• Lower Hutt City Council: Your rubbish and recycling service
• Upper Hutt City Council: Waste and recycling

Batteries

Collection is on hold as our collection agency waits for confirmation on new safety standards. We cannot safely collect and store these in the interim.

Coffee capsules

Some brands of coffee capsule are being collected but we are limited by what the recycling company can recycle. The best alternatives are still to avoid purchasing capsule machines or using refillable capsules.

Compostable plates, bowls, cutlery etc.

Commercial compost collection companies in Wellington cannot take compostable containers, cutlery etc. on a regular basis as it unbalances their compost. A better solution is reusables.

Curtains

You can take curtains to The Sustainability Trust, 2 Forresters Lane, Te Aro. We don’t have the resourcing for this right now.

Face masks, gloves and PPE

Our only option for these at present is costly and involves flying them to Australia.

Lids

#1, #2, #5 Plastic drop them off to: The Sustainability Trust, 2 Forresters Lane, Te Aro. You need to pre-sort the lids into each number type. We don’t collect these as there is a charge for sending them to Australia for recycling.

All other plastic lids, lids without numbers are not recyclable. Put them in the red general waste bins.

Pens

New - Drop them off to the table outside VUWSA

Used – the free programme for recycling these has closed, and the alternative is costly, time consuming and involves flying them to Australia. Put them in the red general waste bins.

Plastic bread tags

This programme has closed. Remember paper bread tags are too small for recycling and can either go in your home compost or the red general waste bin.

Prescription glasses

Take them to your nearest Specsavers. We don’t have the resourcing for this right now.

Soft plastic

The company that collects soft plastic for recycling will not let us have recycling at the university. Soft plastic can be dropped off at selected supermarkets – find your nearest store here [https://www.recycling.kiwi.nz/store-locator]

Takeaway coffee cups

Takeaway coffee cups can’t be recycled or composted (even the ones with convincing “eco” promises written on them) so our preference is to prevent cup usage all together. Have your coffee in a real cup at one of our cafés or grab an Auraki and return it to one of the grey collection bins. Takeaway cups and lids all go in the red general waste bins.

TetraPaks

We hope to introduce these soon, but more education is needed for these than other recyclables. In the interim you can cut them apart, wash and dry them and take them to Earthlink at 25 Peterkin Street, Lower Hutt.

Used stationery

The free programme for recycling this has closed, and the alternative is costly, time consuming and involves flying them to Australia.