Moo2Shampoo - one year on
It’s been a year since Anchor™ Light Proof™ bottles began turning up in SKYCITY hotel rooms, disguised as shampoo, conditioner and body lotion bottles. Fonterra’s partnership with SKYCITY shows what’s possible when businesses work together.
The initiative has been so successful it’s been nominated as a finalist for the 2018 NZI Sustainable Business Network 'Going Circular' Award. The award celebrates initiatives and organisations for making progress in extending the lifecycle of materials – helping to create a circular economy in New Zealand.
“The most important thing for us with the Moo2Shampoo project, aside from the environmental benefits, has been the collaboration between businesses – between customer and supplier,” says Fonterra Brands New Zealand Environmental and Sustainability Manager Larisa Thathiah.
As businesses look to shift to a more sustainable future, working towards a circular economy is vital. Kiwi businesses need to think outside the box within New Zealand. With Moo2Shampoo, our aim has been to illustrate what’s possible.
The initiative supplies SKYCITY with the 35,000 Puriri bottles they need for the year, diverting more than a tonne of new plastic from being produced and replacing it with recycled plastic.
SKYCITY Group Manager Environment Courtney Simpson says feedback from hotel customers after they’ve read about the story behind their in-room amenities has been really positive.
“It’s an initiative we’re really proud of, and we’re glad that our customers appreciate it too,” says Courtney.
“In particular, we’re proud of how Moo2Shampoo highlights how businesses can work together to create real and tangible circular benefits.”
So where to for Moo2Shampoo’s second year?
For Larisa, the next step is to make Moo2Shampoo completely circular – by adding Puriri bottles directly into the Moo2Shampoo recycling scheme.
“Forming a fully circular partnership is an ambitious goal – but it’s one that we’re striving for,” says Larisa.
“Moo2Shampoo has proven what can be done when Kiwi businesses are bold. The team at SKYCITY are great team to work with, so we are looking forward to further opportunities from our partnership in the future.”
Other recycling initiatives Fonterra is part of include: a programme with Papakura-based firm Rural Direct to turn Anchor™ Light Proof™ bottles into recycled plastic pipes used on farm, and a partnership with Paper4Trees NZ which makes recycling bins for classrooms around the country.
One 2L Anchor bottle makes 6 Puriri bottles, here’s how:
The empty Anchor light proof bottles are collected from SkyCafe by the Anchor milkman and delivered to Auckland based plastics re-cyclers Astron Sustainability.
At Astron Sustainability, the Anchor Lightproof bottles are ground down to plastic beads that are delivered to HealthPak, a kiwi owned packaging company, to manufacture the Puriri bottles.
The newly made bottles are filled with shampoo, conditioner or body lotion and delivered to SKYCITY Hotels. One 2L Anchor light-proof bottle has enough plastic to create six Puriri bottles.
Used Puriri bottles are collected from SKYCITY and taken back to Astron Sustainability to be ground into plastic beads and delivered to HealthPak to be turned back into Puriri bottles.