School pioneers recycling scheme for plastics

GREEN RECRUITS: Pyes Pa School pupils Eve Casey, 12 (left), Tania Simpson, 12, Callum Gibbs, 11, Alyse Tereapii, 11, and Andrew Smiles, 11, with the first influx of recyclables for their new station. PHOTO/GEORGE NOVAK

Pyes Pa School has been selected to pioneer a new closed-loop recycling system, in which used plastic containers from global dairy giant Fonterra have a guaranteed end use.

A portable recycling station has been placed in the school grounds until April 2, to test the response from pupils and the rest of the rural community.

Pyes Pa people will know that their selected Fonterra and Ecostore empties will be converted into recycling crates and wheelie bins, or new Ecostore bottles and laundry scoops.

School principal Michelle Thurlow said the long-term vision was to set up a community recycling centre at the school. "This is a trial to see how it goes."

She was delighted that Pyes Pa had been chosen to be one of the first schools to get a recycling station. It was meaningful because the children could learn the process in which the waste plastic was recycled into beads and then manufactured into the crates and wheelie bins.

The initiative between the Kiwi brands will see two portable stations moved around Northland, Auckland and the Bay of Plenty, starting with Pyes Pa School.

A bonus for the community was that there were slots for grade five plastic containers holding Tip Top icecream and Piako yoghurt. Council-based recycling schemes were usually restricted to accepting grade one and two plastics, with much of it exported to Asia.

Fonterra environmental manager Nic Bishop said the trial would see them collaborate with different groups such as schools, businesses and councils. If the trial was successful it could be expanded to take in other manufacturers.

Key questions to be answered were how would people respond and would they use the recycling station in the right way.