21 November, 2002

Recycling arrives with style on forecourts thanks to BP, Coca-Cola and Love NZ

BP and Coca-Cola New Zealand are joining forces with Love NZ to launch a new recycling initiative on BP Connect service station forecourts around the country – the first time forecourt recycling will be available in New Zealand.

Minister for the Environment Hon. Amy Adams will launch the project at 3pm on Wednesday 21 November 2012 at BP Connect Lunn Ave.

Bins will be installed at 30 sites across Auckland within the next two months, with further bins to be installed at 80 BP Connect forecourts across the country. The project will liaise with suppliers, recyclers and councils in each region to set up effective paper cup recycling.

Based on current trials, it is expected the 80 recycling ‘bintainers’ will together collect enough cans, bottles and cups in one year to stretch well beyond the length of New Zealand when stacked end to end* and weigh the equivalent of 6,354 All Blacks**

Love NZ, an organisation working to increase public place recycling, said the partnership with BP, the biggest retailer of coffee in the country, and Coca-Cola had the potential to greatly reduce waste to landfill. This project is part of a commercial programme which has received contributory funding from the Waste Minimisation Fund.

Nicky Wagner, Chair of the Love NZ Board said: “Most Kiwis are good recyclers at home. 73% of us have access to kerbside recycling and we’re pretty good at using that. But only 18% of waste material collected out and about is recycled. These new recycling ‘bintainers’ on BP Connect forecourts will make it easy for people to recycle their containers and packaging while out and about.

“The BP, Coca-Cola partnership is a very visible illustration of Love NZ’s commercial initiative to partner with major brands to install and promote more out and about recycling bins. The ultimate goal is to get 100 million drinks and food containers recycled while Kiwis are out and about each year. We now have over 1000 permanent recycling bins around the country and around 2000 mobile event recycling bins but we need more so that recycling bins are as available as waste bins,” she said.

BP’s Convenience Retail Operations Manager Jason McMenamin said industry had an important role to play in helping promote recycling and sustainability practices.

“As the major retailer of hot coffee in the country through our Wild Bean Cafes, we are very keen to make a difference, and our customers are too. As local councils introduce paper cup recycling services, we welcome the chance to support the recycling effort and to make it easy for our customers.

“In trials, our bins are already collecting around 695kg of recyclable material a month each, the equivalent of around 25,000 plastic bottles, cans and cups.”

George Adams, Managing Director of Coca-Cola NZ said: “Coca-Cola New Zealand has been involved in recycling since the early 1970’s and we’ve invested significantly in establishing a huge variety of programmes to encourage and promote effective out and about recycling.

BP service stations sell a huge number of our products, and all of those are in recyclable containers. Our mission is to be a catalyst for positive change in recycling behavior and ultimately to decrease the number of beverage containers needlessly going to landfill.

We’re delighted to be part of this new scheme.”

ENDS

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