An Upper Hutt collection site has now opened at Wallaceville Playcentre at 52 Ward Street, Trentham. They will be accepting expired or damaged seats Monday to Thursday from 9:30am to 12pm. There is a $10 fee per seat to cover recycling costs. The Playcentre has a strong focus on the environment. Children are encouraged to become kaitiaki (caretakers) of the land and its taonga (treasures/resources) as they do composting, worm-farming, recycling, gardening and water conservation at Playcentre. “We’re delighted to be involved,” said Sasha Johnstone, co-president at the Centre. “It’s a great initiative supporting both recycling and safety – two issues which are really important to the parents here.” SeatSmart started in the Wellington region just 8 weeks ago and ...
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***HUTT NEWS ARTICLE ABOUT SEATSMART*** Please note, it was incorrectly stated in the Hutt News that “owners will receive $10 for any brand of seat”. This is INCORRECT. SeatSmart charges a fee of $10 per seat (RRP) to cover recycling costs. Apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.
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Media Release 30 March 2017 A unique recycling service for child car restraints launches in the Wellington region next week with the aim of protecting our environment and our kids. A minimum of 40,000 child car restraints reach their ‘use by’ date each year in New Zealand. Most end up in a landfill, despite around 90 per cent of a typical seat being recyclable. Now Wellingtonians and Hutt Valley residents will get the chance to recycle their unwanted seats. “Many people aren’t aware that children’s car seats have a limited life span of six to ten years,” says Toni Bye, SeatSmart programme manager. “For a variety of reasons the materials can degrade and weaken over time, which may affect how ...
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We are absolutely delighted to say that Wellington City Council have awarded SeatSmart funding to help bring car seat recycling to Wellington in 2017! So, save your expired or damaged seats from landfill, we’ll have drop off points in various locations thanks to the Council and support from Baby On The Move – Wellington North, Baby On The Move – Wellington South and the Sustainability Trust. More information to come in the New Year! Since we wrote this post in December, we’ve been fortunate enough to gain support from both the Upper Hutt City Council and Hutt City Council to extend the programme to the Hutt Valley. We’re looking forward to opening collection sites in Wellington and now the Hutt ...
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While not everyone in NZ deals with the same temperature extremes as Canada (except maybe central Otago!) this is a good reminder to dispose of your child car seat when it expires – “Extreme heat reduces integrity of child car seats”. If you’re unsure how to find the expiry date on your child car seats you can read our guide or talk to a trusted car seat technician. Watch this video from the Weather Network in Canada:
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Thanks to everyone who has recycled their child car seats through SeatSmart over the last 12 months. End of March 2016 marked the end of our successful trial period, covering April 2015 to March 2016. In this period we have: collected 1,713 car seats that would have otherwise gone to landfill or continued in use despite being expired or damaged; extended collections to 11 sites in 6 cities; sent approximately 6,000kg of plastic, 850kg of metal and 170kg of straps for recycling or repurposing; and provided meaningful work for Department of Corrections work programmes. A review of the programme has set some exciting goals for the next 12 months, including a target of 3,500 seats recycled. We have also amended the ...
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The SeatSmart child car seat recycling programme is opening in Christchurch thanks to support from Canterbury’s Sustainable Initiatives Fund Trust (SIFT). The programme is already operating in Auckland, Hamilton, Hastings and Nelson and aims to collect and recycle some of the 40,000 plus child car seats going to landfill each year in New Zealand. According to Michelle Duncan of 3R Group, the SeatSmart programme manager, up to 94% of a car seat’s components can be recycled, bringing significant benefits and freeing up valuable landfill space. “Seats are dismantled by Department of Corrections as part of their community work programmes, and the recovered plastic is recycled into new products used in the building industry. “Metal parts are taken to metal recyclers, ...
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3R were delighted for SeatSmart to be announced as a finalist in the Sustainable Business Network Awards for 2015: SeatSmart child car seat recycling programme – Mega Efficiency Innovation Award 3R were also nominated themselves in the Mega Efficiency Impact Award. We’re looking forward to the Awards dinner in November! Read more: Finalists announced
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SeatSmart was lucky enough to feature in the July edition of the esteemed Idealog magazine: “Hastings-based ‘product stewardship’ company 3R Group, whose raison d’etre is working out how to make things from waste, and therefore keep it out of landfill. Download the article
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3R’s project manager Michelle Duncan answers a few questions about our latest programme, SeatSmart. How did it all start? The project started when I had an expired car seat and was told the only disposal option was dumping it in landfill. For me, landfill should be the last resort, not the only option. So, I took the issue to my colleagues at 3R and we decided that we could change the outcome. Thanks to the project, the outcome will now be that 92% of the car seat materials brought in can be recycled. When did it launch? The SeatSmart programme launched on 1 April with a pilot in Auckland, Hamilton, Hastings and Nelson. It follows the 18-month initial project which looked ...
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