SO TRUE @Sarah977 and @Sandra126 - just because a recycling bin gets emptied at the curbside every other week, doesn't mean it's being dealt with responsibly. Environmentalists reported a month ago that New Zealand recycling was piling up in Malaysia and being burned in secret by unregulated "pop up" recyclers, that appeared after China stopped taking recycling. News reporters then went to Malaysia and filmed it all happening, with toxic fumes, waste piles... made me sick. Soon after that we had some officials from Malaysia visit parliament and (my summary) tell NZ to deal with it's own waste and stop exporting the problem.
As much as NZ likes to use the "clean green" brand, there are as many problems to solve here as in many other countries when it comes to over reliance on single use plastics.
On the positive side though, there has been a huge uptake of pastic free produce and products at our local harbourside market. SO many more people each week, which is awesome. The milk seller (you can fill your own containers from the chilled milk truck that drives up) has had to put on 4 times the milk, there has been so much more business. Plus the Hippie Straw company popped up, Ecopack expanded, the "bee paper" stall has grown... this stuff has been there for a long while, but it's been a case of sellers convincing people to be responsible. Now, it has switched and people are seeking them out.