SeatSmart
Child Car Seat
Recycling
COVID-19 UPDATE: SeatSmart collection sites are not accepting seats during Alert Level 4. Please hold on to your seats and bring them in once restrictions are lifted.
Imagine 100,000 car seats sitting end to end…
They would stretch from Auckland’s CBD to Pukekohe. That’s the minimum number of car seats that expire every year in New Zealand.
Don’t let your expired or damaged car seat end up in landfill or be sold.
Our Programme
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Reasons to recycle
Why recycle your car seat?
There are lots positive environmental and social outcomes from recycling your seat:
– Diverting tonnes of plastic and metal from landfill each year;
– Providing dismantling work for people who have a disability, or are disadvantage or marginalised;
– Improving child safety by raising awareness of seat expiry dates;
– Lowering the use of virgin materials to make new plastic and metal; and
– Providing used materials to be repurposed into new items.
Who dismantles your seats?
On 1 November 2018 we moved to paid dismantling for the majority of seats. This is due to increasing volumes and the growing complexity of the seats we collect. We will use two services:
– Social Enterprise – a paid service that provides employment for people who have a disability or are disadvantaged or marginalised; and
– Department of Corrections community work programmes – a free dismantling service providing useful indoor work for offenders, used for a limited number of seats.
The nitty gritty
Is there a cost to recycle?
On 1 November 2018, we began charging our collection sites a fee of $25 incl. GST (recommended retail price) per seat we collect to cover the costs of recycling. What you pay when you take in your seat can vary.
Some of the cost may be covered by your local council which may have chosen to provide a recycling incentive to encourage waste minimisation.
What seats are accepted?
Any brand of booster, convertible seat or capsule.
Sorry, no polystyrene seats, snap and go’s or other car seat accessories are accepted.
Collection sites have the right to reject mouldy seats as these can contaminate other seats and are a potential health risk.
Limit of 4 seats per customer. For bulk volumes please contact us directly to discuss options.
What materials are in the seats?
Up to 70% of seat materials (by weight) are recyclable.
Plastic, metal, harnesses – they can all have a second life.
News and Views
Partnership makes for social, environmental win-win
The SeatSmart Child Car Seat Recycling programme and the South Waikato Achievement Trust (SWAT) have been working together since November 2018, with SeatSmart sending many of the seats it collects to SWAT for dismantling. The result, says SeatSmart programme manager Toni Bye, is a social and environmental win-win. “It’s our ethos to maximise the environmental […]
Be SeatSmart before you travel this festive season
The road trip is a Kiwi tradition over the holidays, so now is a good time to check the safety of the seat your most precious cargo travels in. The manager of the country’s only child car seat recycling programme, SeatSmart, is urging parents and caregivers to check their children’s seats aren’t expired or damaged […]
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