Many bales of plastic are waiting at the Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre for possible buyers.
The plastics used to be sold to China, but that country is no longer taking them.
Fortunately the Whanganui centre is large and has lots of room to store product, manager Ramari Te Uamairangi said.
"We don't have to [landfill it] and we are never going to landfill it. It's a matter of just sitting it out and waiting for the market to return."
Clear plastic from drink bottles (No 1) has a market with a Lower Hutt manufacturer. Milk bottle plastic (No 2) also has a market in New Zealand.