The city of Nelson in New Zealand has embarked on a six-month trial for kerbside collections of soft plastic, funded by the industry.  

This initiative, the first of its kind in the country, is being conducted by The Packaging Forum's Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme and supported, but not funded, by the Nelson City Council. 

The trial aims to assess the feasibility of recycling soft plastic packaging through kerbside collection.  

Households in Nelson selected to participate will receive orange recycling bags for their soft plastics, which will be collected fortnightly by Enviro NZ, separate from the council's recycling operation.  

The collected plastics will then be recycled into products like fence posts and garden beds by Future Post in Blenheim. 

The pilot is fully funded by The Packaging Forum and is free for the first 1,000 households that register.  

Invitations are being sent to more than 140 streets in Nelson, with collections set to begin in early October.  

Soft Plastic Recycling scheme manager Lyn Mayes said: “As part of the trial we will also gather data on household willingness and community demand for such a collection service; levels of contamination in the collections and, importantly, whether the model is sustainable and cost effective.  

“Ultimately, we want to make it easier for Kiwis to recycle soft plastics at home, and we hope this trial will provide us with valuable information required to inform the future scope of a collection model. We have studied trials in the United Kingdom and Australia and can benchmark the results of this trial in Nelson with overseas experience.”