We’re super excited to tell you about our brand new, nationwide, Soft Plastic Recycling Programme and how you can get involved!
We’re launching a soft plastics recycling programme! ♻💚
We have been working hard behind the scenes to improve our impact on the environment, and are so excited to finally be able to tell you about our Soft Plastics Recycling Programme! Our long-term goal is to eliminate packaging wherever we can but we wanted to ensure that we were providing a solution in the meantime and this is an exciting big step into this space. The programme offers a super simple way for all of our foodies to participate in soft plastic recycling, no matter where in New Zealand you are located!
So, how does it work? 🤷♂️
It is easy to get started! You can add a one-off extra to your subscription for a soft plastic recycling courier bag (which is made of up to 80% recycled plastic), and we will ship it out to you. Please note that this will arrive separately from your My Food Bag delivery. You can then gradually fill this courier bag with ALL of the soft plastic you accumulate in your household. These bags can fit approximately 2 months’ worth of household soft plastic waste! When your bag is full, head online to the NZ Post website to schedule a pick-up, or drop the bag off at your nearest post office!
What counts as soft plastic? 🍫
Some of the best news? You can put in all your household soft plastics, not just your My Food Bag ones! And no matter where you are in New Zealand, if you can get a My Food Bag delivery, then you can join the programme!
So, what counts as soft plastic? Basically, any plastic that you can scrunch up in your hand counts. In your My Food Bag delivery, items like our ice packs, lettuce bags, and the sachets with the waxy lining can all be placed in the soft plastic bag. Other household items, such as bread bags, muesli bar wrappers, and glad wrap can all be recycled too! You can find more information here. You’ll need to ensure that all of the plastic placed in your recycling bag is empty, clean and dry.
How do I join? 🙋♂️
It’s super easy to join the programme! All you need to do is Click Here and add it to your next My Food Bag delivery!
Why have we decided to launch this programme? 📉
My Food Bag has the ambition to inspire New Zealand’s families to be happier, one meal at a time, through all we do. This extends passionately into wanting to also ensure we’re doing this in the most sustainable way possible. We’re super proud of the achievements we’ve made so far but we also know that we still have a way to go. This is an exciting step in our sustainability journey.
We’ve been talking to our foodies and conducting research which told us that the vast majority, 87% or more, are currently throwing out most of their soft-plastic waste. Soft plastic is currently one of the more difficult packaging types to recycle in NZ and over 57% of our foodies told us that it was either difficult or impossible to recycle it in their area. Our long term goal is to eliminate packaging wherever we can but while we’re working towards that goal, we wanted to ensure we have a solution available to our foodies to make recycling easier.
When exploring what was best to do a whopping 79% said household collection was the best way to help them recycle more. We’re really proud of the programme we’ve created and are excited to adventure more into this space, learn and optimise the experience more and more for our foodies.
