Sustainable End-of-Life Options for Plastics in New Zealand

3. Assessment of the Current NZ Infrastructure for Recovery
and End Markets
3.1 Introduction
To be able to understand the potential for recovery of plastics in NZ, the first step was to investigate
the current infrastructure for material collection and the types of end markets that exist. Infrastructure
for the recovery of plastic material incorporated:
• sources
• facilities
• parties involved, and
• how the recovery was funded.
Gaining a better understanding about the current end markets helps in an investigation of additional
end markets by targeting new customers, different forms of material and being aware of the range of
prices offered for various materials.
3.2 Infrastructure for Recovery
3.2.1 Sources of Recovered Plastic Material
The three main sources for the total 35,442 tonnes of recovered plastic material were 16 :
a) pre-consumer industrial
b) post-consumer industrial
c) post-consumer domestic
Figure 15: Sources of plastic recovered nationally by commercial recyclers (Source: PNZ Recycling Survey, 2005)
16.Refer to Appendix 2.7 for definitions of each main source for recovered plastic material.
Current NZ Infrastructure for Recovery and End Markets
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