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Since starting up in 2007, the Agrecovery Rural Recycling programme has seen more than one million kilograms of container plastic recycled.
And the past 12 months have shown how much the programme is taking off. Provisional results show that in the 12 months up to June, 15,495kg of unwanted chemicals and 240,732kg of recycled plastic were collected by Agrecovery. That's a 50% jump in container recycling over a two-year period. What's more the recycling of this amount of product versus using new plastic, saves energy equivalent to 452,000 litres of petrol.
There are six regional collections held in Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Greater Wellington, Marlborough and Canterbury. The industry-good programme is New Zealand's solution for the disposal of unwanted agrichemicals (including those used in wineries and vineyards) and the recycling of empty plastic packaging.
After five years giving a new lease of life to vineyard posts, Marlborough-based company Repost is getting its own upcycle, in a joint venture with timber manufacturer OneForty One, which mills micronised copper azoleated (MCA) posts at its Kaituna Mill.
Having already hit the headlines for recycling broken 2.4 metre vineyard posts into 1.8 and 1.6 metre, half and quarter posts for agriculture, Repost recently hit the milestone of one million posts recycled, diverting the CCA treated posts from landfill.
A proposed recycling levy on commonly used polyethylene woven seed sacks and bags is likely to come into effect next year.
The two main plastic collection programmes in New Zealand's primary sector - Agrecovery and Plasback - have agreed to work together.
New Zealand agriculture’s effort to recycle its waste plastic is a good news story.
A brilliant result and great news for growers and regional economies. That's how horticulture sector leaders are describing the news that sector exports for the year ended June 30 will reach $8.4 billion - an increase of 19% on last year and is forecast to hit close to $10 billion in 2029.
Funding is proving crucial for predator control despite a broken model reliant on the goodwill of volunteers.
A major milestone on New Zealand's unique journey to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis could come before the end of this year.
We're working through it, and we'll get to it.
The debate around New Zealand's future in the Paris Agreement is heating up.
A technical lab manager for Apata, Phoebe Scherer, has won the Bay of Plenty 2025 Young Grower regional title.
