A big user of industrial-size plastic bags has found a way to re-use them, helping stem the dumping of thousands of bags each year into landfills.
A large 'flexitank' bag inside a shipping container. Photo: Supplied / PT Sumber Solusi Indonesia
But bureaucracy at the wharf is standing in the way of this being any sort of silver bullet to cut down on waste plastic.
The giant flexitanks or bags that typically contain more than 20 tonnes of a product, are seen by some as a curse, supplanting recyclable plastic or steel freight containers at an increasing rate worldwide.
But to Nelson Lindsay and his 25 employees in Southland, they've been a godsend.
"It's made our business possible because we didn't have to start big.
"The beautiful thing about flexitanks is that you can just import small quantities," Lindsay said.
From small beginnings in 2003, his business has grown to using up to a 2000 flexitanks a year to bring in 60,000 tonnes of feed.
The less palatable thing about the several million tanks now used worldwide each year is that 90 percent are used just once and many then end up in landfills, an industrial riposte to the consumer rejection of plastic shopping bags.
Not Nelson Lindsay's though. "I didn't like to see the waste and the dumping of flexitanks."
So he got his own, stronger tanks made.
"We use them bringing in molasses from around Asia.
"After we've unloaded them we send them back for re-use."
One tank could last for years - "probably a decade".
A secondary liner to protect a container from any tank leaks, was more flimsy but still lasted a few times before being dumped, he said.
But barriers remain. Only a few shipping lines will take them, as many will only handle new flexitanks under protocols set by the global Container Owners Association.
The company faced paying import duties at the wharf and, crucially, it only worked for handling a wash-outable animal, not human, food.
"Items like wine, it wouldn't be easy to to reuse them, it wouldn't be safe," Lindsay said.
"It doesn't always work... there's a lot of bureaucratic reasons why reusable flexitanks are not as easy as it should be."
Washing them uses a lot of water, too, he noted.
The Covid pandemic has thrown up new barriers to Winton Stock Feed, as staff can't get overseas to check operations, so this year it is relying on bulk tanker deliveries.
It was "completely understandable" why companies used the tanks even if they then had to dump them, Lindsay said.
"They have to because they're trying to shift small quantities. It's not economic for a bulk vessel.
"And the cost of container rates have come down so much over the years, it's very economical."
Once the flexitank was unloaded, the container was refilled with export cargo, which made for transport efficiency.
Supply chain research shows the carbon footprint of transporting flexitanks is comparatively low; the rub is that they are made of plastic, and last forever in landfills, though are inert once dumped.
Food companies
RNZ asked 16 mostly high-profile food companies if they are using flexitanks in New Zealand.
Two said they do: Winton Stock Feed that reuses them, and Hillebrand Wines, which last month began https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/429371/business-mystified-by-govt-s-lack-of-interest-in-recycling-initiative recycling them into fenceposts].
Eight said they did not: Asahi, Bakels, Bluebird, Coca-Cola, Countdown, Fonterra, Foodstuffs, and Heinz Wattie's.
Seven companies did not respond or did not say: Frucor Suntory, Griffins/Eta, McCain, Mr Chips, Pernod-Ricard, Talley's, and Unilever.
RNZ is unable to verify the responses.
Asahi said it stopped using the tanks to bring in wine to be put into casks about two years ago. It did not sell cask wine anymore and only imported wine in bottles now.
Bakels said it used only a limited amount of oil and this came by road tanker from local suppliers.
Foodstuffs, which runs supermarkets, said it was "a bit further down the supply chain" so flexitanks were not an issue, though it had "a lot of work going on with waste reduction and stewardship".
Freight forwarders have said many thousands of the bags are being dumped each year.
Signatories to the New Zealand Plastic Packaging Declaration including Countdown, Foodstuffs, Frucor Suntory, New Zealand Post, Amcor, Danone, L'Oréal, Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Unilever have promised to use only reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging across their global operations by 2025 or sooner.
One problem, however, is where other parts of the supply chain, such as for vegetable oils, rely on flexitanks, or where a product could be recycled, but the country lacks the recycling facilities to actually do that.
Fonterra said it had completed a global audit of its packaging and was innovating, such as with the. first plant-based milk bottle.