What your carton will become

The majority of the material collected through the Scheme is sent to saveBOARD in Kirikiriroa Hamiton; however, a small proportion is sent to pulp mills offshore to recover the Fibre, the Polyethylene and the Aluminium  which are the ingredients of food and beverage cartons where they are used in a variety of second life applications. An even smaller proportion is sent to a new start up recycler in Tamaki  Makaurau Auckland which is experimenting with a new product and process – when we can share more information on that we certainly will!

You’ll find here a video of what happens to the food and beverage cartons at our processing partner’s manufacturing facility in Hamilton, and the range of products saveBOARD is making with those cartons. As the Scheme grows, we will welcome more recycling partners. Find out how to become a Scheme processing partner here.

The cartons are firstly shredded and then heated in a press, where approximately 20% of a food and beverage carton, which is plastic, melts and becomes the “glue” to the finished product which looks much like a sheet of plywood. There is no added glue or resins, nor water, used in the process. The boards are trimmed to width and length with all the waste going back into the process – so there is zero waste; and all of this is done here in Aotearoa New Zealand with 100% renewable electricity.