Caps can't go in kerbside recycling in Aotearoa.
Under the 2024 nationwide rules, plastics 1, 2 (that's us), and 5 are accepted, but small loose caps and lids are excluded. They're too small to be reliably sorted, can fall through machinery, and may contaminate other recycling streams.
We're now part of the national Caps & Lids Recycling Scheme, run by The Packaging Forum. It provides dedicated drop-off points for caps and lids that can't go in your kerbside bin.
The scheme is new, so drop-off locations are limited but expanding
- i.e. the more people use them, the more demand there is for additional collection points, which helps expand access to other areas around the motu.
The collected plastic caps are cleaned and processed, then downcycled into other durable products like wheelie bins and similar long-life items.
We're chuffed there's now a pathway that's better than landfill.
Our caps are HDPE (plastic 2), a widely recyclable material. The issue isn't the plastic, it's the size.
So we've been looking for a better solution.
