Waste Minimisation

Soft plastics from The Show to be turned into fence posts and garden boxes.

Soft plastics from The Show to be turned into fence posts and garden boxes

Soft plastic waste collected at this year’s NZ Agricultural Show is being recycled into fence posts and garden boxes. It’s one of several initiatives to minimise the more than 16 tonnes of waste at events such as this going to landfill.

An assessment by waste minimisation and landfill diversion specialists Sustainably during last year’s Show revealed several opportunities for improvements.

This has resulted in The Show being part of the Christchurch City Council’s CFPE (Composting Food Packaging at Events) initiative, eliminating latex/rubber balloons, a food recovery programme for the City Mission, and collection of soft plastics at the Village Green.

The soft plastics programme is being led by Nestlé which has vision for a waste free future and is committed to supporting local initiatives such as The Show. It will have two collection points at The Show for visitors to discard their soft plastics and will collect from exhibitors each day.

“Last year we started a collection process to help divert material from landfill at the Nestle Village Green at The Show, where we diverted 90% of material from two bin stations to recycling streams,” says Nicholas Dale, Nestlé’s New Zealand Corporate Brand Manager.

Future Post will incorporate the soft plastic collected into fence posts and garden boxes at its new Blenheim factory which opened in July. The posts are used on the farm, in viticulture, marine and horticulture. Each post contains more than 19kg of plastics waste and comprises the equivalent of approximately 250 milk bottles and 1100 plastic bread bags.

In the year to March 2023, Future Post diverted from landfill and recycled over 1,800 tonnes of waste plastics.  Visitors to The Show can view the recycled fence posts and garden boxes at Future Post’s site (G26).

The drive for greater sustainability is a passion project of Tracy Ahern, general manager of the Canterbury A&P Association which runs The Show.

“Sustainability is something close to my heart and I want us to exemplify what can be done to reduce waste going to landfill. It’s a journey and each year we’re hoping to add to our programme.” Last year, some of the waste collected was composted into nutrient dense compost.

• The NZ Agricultural Show is proud to have a partnership with ChristchurchNZ.

For further information:

Kat Ralph-Triebels, Waste Minimisation Consultant, 021 991 391; OR

Tracy Ahern, General Manager, gm@theshow.co.nz, 027 5444 557