KEY POINTS:
New Zealanders recycled almost 20 per cent more packaging last year than the year before, Packaging Council executive director Paul Curtis said today.
"Overall, 57 per cent of our packaging was collected in the past year, which is a massive 67,500 tonnes more than the year before," Mr Curtis said.
"To put this in perspective, this increase equates to an annual saving of around 33,000 tonnes of Co2, or taking around 8000 cars off the road."
New Zealand had already surpassed the packaging accord recycling targets for paper and steel and was at least 95 per cent of the way to achieving recycling targets for aluminium, glass and plastic, he said.
Co-operation between packaging manufacturers, brand owners and retailers, recycling operators, local and central government contributed to the improvement.
Meanwhile, the Glass Packaging Forum said New Zealanders recycled nearly 110,000 tonnes of glass containers in the past year.
That was an increase of almost 18 per cent over the previous year or equivalent to an extra 17000 tonnes of glass being collected nationwide, forum chairman David Carter said today.
The results precede the industry's Environmental Packaging Awards, being held tomorrow.
- NZPA
