Better packaging One of the reasons for switching to #5 plastic (i.e. rigid polypropylene or rigid PP) is its recyclability in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Sandy Botterill, Circular Economy Manager at Plastics NZ says that 87% of our population lives in areas where #5 plastic is accepted in kerbside collections.

The rest of the population is covered by 20 local councils which don’t collect it yet, but many of these councils are considering starting collection in the future.

The collected material is in high demand from local manufacturers, for making into a wide variety of items including plant pots, construction materials and recycling bins.

Sandy says it can’t currently be made back into food packaging in New Zealand, for food safety reasons, although technology is being developed internationally that may allow for recycled PP to be included in food packaging in the future.

“My dream is that we can make PP food packaging back into PP food packaging one day”
- Sandy Botterill