A Guide to Recycling our Packaging

Find out how you can be part of the recycling loop and therefore a participant in the wider sustainability movement.

Recycling systems and capabilities have grown significantly over the past decade with new initiatives and more efficient processes and facilities. Awareness has also grown, with an emphasis on preventing waste, reusing where possible and incorporating recycling as a normal part of our society.

For recycling to become the norm, it requires an efficient recycling system, as well as a collective responsibility from manufacturers and consumers alike. Together it can result in a reduction of waste to landfill, raw material use, energy use, and pollution.

A Word About Our Packaging

As an organic food producer in New Zealand, it is important to us that all our packaging meets two criteria.

First, it must be able to maintain the freshness of our preservative free and organic ingredients. This will provide fresh product to consumers as well as prevent spoilage and waste.

Second, it needs to be sustainable. As packaging options continually evolve, our choices must too. It’s important to remain flexible and adapt to what sustainable packaging means in New Zealand, i.e. where the material is sourced, how it is manufactured, and where can it be recycled.

We have carefully chosen our packaging that can deliver both in functionality and sustainability. This guide tells you how and where to recycle our packaging.

Recycling Glass

All recyclable glass collected in New Zealand goes to the processing plant O-I in Auckland. Not sure if it’s worth your while to recycle, check out the video below to get all your questions answered!

All our glass jars and bottles can be recycled in kerbside collection. Follow these 3 simple steps:

1. Remove the lid (more on how to recycle those below)
2. Rinse out the glass jar or bottle to remove any remaining substances.
3. Place it into your kerbside recycling bin.

Find up-to-date details for recycling glass in NZ here.

How to Recycle Lids and Caps

All caps and lids are now excluded from kerbside recycling. However, a Caps and Lids Recycling Scheme has commenced. Lids and caps can be dropped off at collection points.

Before you put this into the “too hard basket”, check out the easy-to-follow steps below and give it a go!

1. Remove caps and lids from glass jars and bottles
2. Rinse and let dry
3. Keep a box or bag handy to store your clean lids.
4. Drop them off at a collection point. Find one near you.

A Bit About the New Program

The Caps and Lids Recycling Scheme is an industry-funded programme operated by the Packaging Forum. It was designed to create a circular economy, diverting caps and lids from landfill, and recycling them instead.

Rob Langford, CEO of the Packaging Forum explains “It is estimated that approximately 16,000 tonnes of caps and lids are in circulation annually – that’s approximately 900 trucks loaded with waste.  Around 60% of household grocery items have a cap or lid to contain the product safely and securely.”

Find out more about this new scheme.

How to Recycle Metal Cans

All our cans can be recycled in kerbside collection. Follow these 3 simple steps:

1. When opening the can leave the lid slightly attached, as then it will be recycled too. (If the lid is already detached, put the rinsed lid in the rinsed can and lightly crush it so the lid cannot fall out.)
2. Rinse the can and lid to remove any remaining food
3. Place it in your kerbside recycling bin.

How to Recycle Soft Plastics

We are fortunate to have such a successful and accessible soft plastic recycling scheme in New Zealand. The collected soft plastic is made into new products such as fence posts, parking bumpers, construction boards, garden edging, and courier bags.

All our retail products are in soft plastic recyclable packaging. This includes corn puffs, protein bars, granola, oats, flour, nuts, seeds, powders and Epsom salts.

Follow these 3 simple steps:

1. Rinse the packet and it dry.
2. Use one bag to stuff all plastic packaging into it and store in the closet.
3. When shopping, drop it into the collection bin. Find a collection point near you here.

Many supermarkets have collection bins, so pop this into your reusable shopping bags and drop it off on your way in the doors.  

Easy Oats and Easy Bowls – An Opportunity for Improvement

When we first launched our Easy Oats range in 2020, the cup was considered kerbside recyclable. We encouraged consumers to recycle the cup with other cardboard and the lid with other soft plastic recyclables.

In 2025 it came to our attention that regulations and processes have changed.  Due to the lining, the cup was no longer recyclable in New Zealand. While this is extremely disappointing, we are determined to find a solution. We are working closely with our packaging suppliers to find an alternative option. As a member of the Packaging Forum, we are investigating and learning about possible recycling options going forward.

How to Recycle Packaging from our Partners

We partner with other companies that share our passion for sustainable packaging.

Clipper Tea

Clipper is leading the market as packaging pioneers, being the first in the world to have developed an unbleached, plastic-free, non-GMO tea bag.

• Put the used teabag into the compost or worm bin. It is made from a blend of plant fibres.
• The box and tea bag envelopes are kerbside recyclable.
• The instant coffee glass jar is kerbside recyclable. The lid can be dropped into the Cap & Lid Recycling Program.

Honest Sea Seaweed Snacks

• The wrapper is soft plastic recycling. 
• The plastic tray is kerbside recyclable.
• The oxygen absorber goes to landfill.  

Kallo

• The cardboard box is kerbside recyclable.
• The foil wrappers around the stock cubes go to landfill. Our supplier is actively working on a solution.

When you choose to recycle, you are supporting a full circle of sustainability. Reducing waste may seem overwhelming at first, so start with small achievable steps. To get inspired, check out this local initiative called RecycleKiwi.