From Bags to Blankets, Waste to Warmth: Reusing Single-Use Foil with the CPP
Next month the Sustainability Series returns to Tūranga. This is month-long series of talks, displays and workshops will cover how our lifestyle impacts the environment around us and ways we might adjust what we do to mitigate these effects.
I’m excited to be involved in the Crafting for Wellbeing session on Saturday 21 September from 2pm to 3.30pm. It will focus on one idea for dealing with a common form of single-use waste. In conjunction with The Chip Packet Project we’ll practise upcycling this waste into reusable survival blankets for ourselves, or for those in need. Read on for more info about this exciting kaupapa, and join us!
The Dilemma
I like a snack. I really do. And if, like me, you enjoy munching on some chips while you watch the latest episode of your show, or nibbling on a cheeky late night biscuit while you finish reading just one more chapter, then you will be familiar with the Foil Packet Dilemma: our ephemeral morsels gone we are left with the foil packaging, now just litter, which will be around longer than our snacks lasted – a lot longer. What to do with it? Our options are limited.
Bin it?
In Ōtautahi (as everywhere else in Aotearoa) foil chip bags and biscuit packets cannot be recycled in your yellow bin; instead, for kerbside collection they must go in your red bin -- destined for the landfill along with other single-use items like disposable nappies, coffee cups and aerosol cans.
Recycle It?
There are options for recycling soft plastics — including our foil packets — but you’ll need to put in a bit more effort and take your washed and dried waste to a Soft Plastic Recycling bin. There are over 20 of these bins in Ōtautahi, almost all in Woolworths and New World supermarkets or The Warehouse stores. These Soft Plastic Recycling bins don’t take the rigid plastics you put in your council kerbside bins (like the tray from a pack of chocolate biscuits), just the soft plastics like our chip and biscuit packets.
“The project takes all soft plastic bags including bread bags, frozen food bags, toilet paper packaging, confectionery and biscuit wrap, chip bags, pasta and rice bags, courier envelopes, shopping bags, sanitary hygiene packaging - basically anything made of plastic which can be scrunched into a ball.” – from the Soft Plastic Recycling website
These bins aren’t run by the council, instead the waste is gathered up, processed and manufactured here in Aotearoa into new products which are sold on the local market. According to the website currently these new products include fenceposts and “low carbon building materials.”
(Important note: we’re not talking about tinfoil here, we’re talking about plastic packets that are silver and shiny on the inside.)
Another local recycling option for tricky single-use waste material is one of the city’s best kept sustainability secrets: The Riverlution Eco Hub located in the Richmond Community Gardens at 46 Vogel Street. The amazing community drop-off station here includes bins for many items that cannot be recycled in your yellow kerbside bin, such as tetrapaks, plastic lids, razors, and Colgate toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes. There are also lots of opportunities to get involved in other green initiatives, like volunteering in the thriving community garden that includes a food forest, chicken coop, rongoā native bush and a fungi farm (a wonderful natural playground that hosts a monthly fungi whānau hui). I encourage anyone who’s interested to visit the Riverlution website and find out more!
While there is not a soft plastics collection bin at the Eco Hub our foil packets waste can be dropped off here – not to bin it or recycle it, but to...
Reuse it!
“Reuse”, “repurpose”, “upcycle” – they’re all words for using waste to create new, useful objects. And that’s what happens to foil packets collected The Riverlution Eco Hub! They go to the Chip Packet Project (CPP), a national organisation that uses the discarded packets (and waste plastic) to make foil survival blankets for those in need. Our biscuit and chip packets are lined with foil to keep the contents fresh, which also makes them perfect for thermal blankets to keep the user warm or cool (depending on if the foil is on the inside or outside). How neat is that? Over 500 of these blankets were distributed around the motu in 2023 – and this year’s target is even bigger.
I’ve been collecting my used foil packets for CPP for a while now, and recently I had the opportunity to meet with Jessie Ladbrook, the Chip Packet Project’s Social Media Manager and Coordinator for Otago/Southland. Jessie showed me what happens next once the packets reach CPP, and how we can can start the “fusing” process at home.
- The first step in making a survival blanket from your foil packets is to cut each one open into a flat sheet,
- wash them all in warm soapy water,
- and then dry with a teatowel or in the sun.
- Now the packets are ready to be fused together! This is done by carefully heating them to the right temperature with a Foil Fusion Device™ (a.k.a. a household iron).
- Once the packets have been fused to form a single large foil sheet a similar method is used to add plastic to both sides, sealing the blanket and giving it a quieter, softer texture.
Foil blankets created in this way last for years, and damage is easily repaired using foil and plastic patches fused over any tears. Already in Aotearoa they are being used by people experiencing homelessness, or recovering from a natural disaster.
While CPP loves getting large clean foil packets, sending sheets that are already fused is a huge help. The first steps in the blanket-making process can be easily done at home, so come along and learn how to prepare and fuse your foil packets with us at Crafting for Wellbeing on 21 September 2024, on Auahatanga | Creativity, Level 4 of Tūranga.
Recommended resources
- Browse the Soft Plastics Recycling website
- Visit the Chip Packet Project website
- Like @chippacketprojectnz on Facebook
- Visit the Riverlution Hub website
- Like @riverlutionhub on Facebook
Recommended reading
A Family Guide to Waste-free Living
See more: Sustainable living booklist
Hadassa
Hapori | Community, Level 1, Tūranga
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