The New Zealand government has provided $4m ($3.3m) funds to Wellington-based plastics manufacturing company Flight Plastics to build a recycling facility that could turn plastic waste into food-safe packaging.
Flight Plastics company has received the funds from the government's Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF). So far, the government has awarded about $50m from the WMF for about 100 projects.
New Zealand consumes close to 17,000 tonnes of polyethylene terephthalate plastic (PET) every year. Polyethylene terephthalate plastic is most commonly used for packaging products such as soft drinks, fruits and vegetable punnets.
Most of the PET recycled in New Zealand is exported to Asia. The new facility, located at Lower Hutt, will be able to process about half of that volume.
New Zealand Environment Minister Amy Adams said: "As a country we need to be thinking smarter about ways to reduce our waste, and this facility will certainly provide a fundamental change in the way plastic waste is managed.
It is gratifying to be able to back an innovative project such as this, which shows Kiwi ingenuity is able to develop practical ideas which enhance our clean, green image."
The company received the funding following a 2012 government grant of $30,000 for a feasibility study, which worked on the development of a business model and reviewed the economic viability of launching a recycling facility.
