Why is the government denying small business recycling initiatives?

The country’s biggest bulk wine supplier has begun turning gigantic flexibags into plastic fenceposts. But the fencepost manufacturer protests that a lack of government funding is barring the way from doing so much more, reports Phil Pennington for RNZ. Multinational giant Hillebrand spent months trying to find a recycler to complete the lifecycle: to take … Read more

Why saying toodle-pip to plastic in the produce aisle is not as easy as it looks

Three Countdown stores are currently trialling drastically reducing plastic from their fruit and veg… but it’s a solution that comes with problems of its own. Ah, plastic. The synthetic material we love to hate. In a world where many of the biggest contributors to the climate crisis are not exactly easy to give up – … Read more

From trash to treasure: finding the value in ocean waste

The billions of tonnes of plastic in our oceans isn’t going away any time soon, but innovative companies here and abroad are working together to find silver linings to this daunting problem. Fishing boats head out to sea and set their nets. They go back to shore. They head back out, the nets are pulled … Read more

The beeswax wrap providing an alternative to single-use plastic

In our Q&A series, The Lightbulb, we ask innovators and entrepreneurs to tell us about how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Honeywrap co-founder Tara McQuinn, makers of organic fabric beeswax wraps. First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Honeywrap. Honeywrap is a beeswax wrap made with organic cotton. … Read more

Out-of-packaging experience: The rise of the plastic-free retailer

Refilleries such as GoodFor and Be Free Grocer say their time has come, with consumers from Ponsonby to Palmerston North seeking a zero-waste option. Horror stories such as sea turtles being found with hundred of pieces of plastic in their gut are shocking people into realising the planet will slowly strangle if we don’t stop … Read more