Now for some good news about plastics. We have been deluged in recent months with dismal reports of a world drowning in plastics, our blue planet grossly polluted and our food chains endangered.

  

Doing something about it in a big way is Lower Hutt-based Flight Plastics. Our speaker this week was Keith Smith, chief executive of the company that has invested $17million in new plant  and systems that has the capacity to handle all of New Zealand’s waste PET plastic bottles. This is the type most commonly used for soft drinks and water.

 

PET (#1 polyethylene terephthalate) principally made from oil refining waste byproducts is the world’s most ubiquitous food packing material, surpassing glass and aluminium. It makes up an estimated 20-30 percent of New Zealand’s annual plastics consumption and we can now see it in a range of recycled plastic packaging products, from fresh produce containers to meat and fish and bakery items, to chocolates and pharmaceuticals. Keith talked about how recycling these materials multiple times can be part of a sustainable circular economy – rather than continually importing new materials to be disposed of, adding to our landfills and littering our roadsides and waterways.

  

New Zealand uses around 30,000 tonnes of PET packaging every year. About 8000 tonnes was previously collected and exported, sending our problem offshore. Flight Plastics has the capacity to deal with all of the clear PET currently collected in New Zealand and can increase capacity as recycle rates improve.

 

Flight’s development is some achievement for a company that began life 111 years ago in a single room in Wellington’s Lambton Quay crafting leather bags. It is no longer in the luggage making business, although the Flight brand lives on, moving in to plastics in the 1970s. It has since established factories in Adelaide and Romsey in the UK.

 

While Flight’s investment and production is a very positive step in the right direction, supermarkets could still do a lot more but when profits are at stake, will likely only respond to public pressure or government edict. They continue to import plastic meat trays – approximately 4500 tonnes of them every year – instead of sourcing local recycled products. And yet the price differential is miniscule and it is easy to tell the difference. The Flight Recycling products are stamped as such – NZ Recycled Plastic.

 

Importantly, the recycling process fails in the absence of market demand.  It is up to all of us to create the demand – and to ask for the New Zealand product by name.

 

Club Co-Reporters

 

 

  

 

 

A special PROMO code for a 10% discount for the Rotary Club of Port Nicholson members has been set up.   The code is RCPN10 and here's the link:

 

NZTrio's exciting new era continues with another exceptional ensemble of musicians.

Come and hear Ashley Brown (cello) and guests, Benjamin Baker (violin) and Stephen De Pledge (piano) at their upcoming concert BRAID, City Gallery Wellington, Wednesday 26th September, 7pm.

 

In recognition of the 125th anniversary celebration for women's suffrage in New Zealand, BRAID unleashes an all-female cast of composers.  These remarkable women are represented in this powerful tribute by a perfect tangle of traits - enigma in the Clement (NZ), protective embrace in the Kelly (NZ), enduring strength in the Kats-Chernin (Aus), compassion in the Schumann (Ger) and emotional wisdom in the Mendelssohn (Ger).

 

Complimentary Mt Brown Estates wine and nibbles follow the concert. 

Here's the full programme to whet your appetite:

 

BRAID, City Gallery Wellington, Wednesday 26th September, 7pm:

 

Rachel Clement (NZ): Shifting States: Sabbia (Sand)

Fanny Mendelssohn (Ger): Piano Trio in D minor

Elena Kats-Chernin (Aus): Spirit and the Maiden

Victoria Kelly (NZ): Sono

Clara Schumann (Ger): Piano Trio in G minor

 

Seating is very limited – booking as soon as possible is recommended.
 

      Dawn Sanders, NZ Agent for Ben Baker
      M: 027 283 6016 E: Action-Sanders@xtra.co.nz