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Our work: SeatSmart child car seat recycling

By Caddie Digital on November 30th, 2016 in Consumer goods, Product Stewardship, Work
3R SeastSmart project

Aim: To provide an alternative to landfill for the disposal of child car seats and improve social outcomes by raising awareness of expiry dates through product stewardship.

The problem

More than 100,000 child car seats expire each year in New Zealand.  Until 3R launched SeatSmart in 2016, there were no sustainable outcomes for seats that expired or were damaged in car accidents.  Now, SeatSmart gives consumers a simple user-pays nationwide recycling programme that recovers 75% of seat materials for recycling or repurposing.  We also work to raise awareness of expiry dates to improve safety for Kiwi kids.

It’s a great outcome but we think it could be even better.  We continue to work with industry to make SeatSmart a voluntary product stewardship programme.  This would make it free for consumers to recycle their seats and make a bigger impact on the volume of expired seats going to landfill or being passed on to others.  

The solution

Explore the opportunity of creating an industry-led, best practice design voluntary product stewardship Encourage producers and retailers to join us in creating New Zealand’s first voluntary product stewardship programme for child car seats.  (We’d like to beat Australia to make it a ‘world-first’.)


What did we deliver?

  • We brought industry stakeholders together to investigate the current situation and what product stewardship might look like (2013-2015)
  • We launched a user pays recycling programme to prove the demand and the model in 2016
  • We have successfully recycled more than 24,000 child car seats by March 2022, diverting 124,000 kg of plastic, metal and straps from landfill
  • We researched opportunities for circular solutions for polyethylene from seats
  • We work with New Zealand’s largest insurer IAG and retailer Baby on the Move to provide the first replacement and recycling initiative for child car seats damaged under insurance

How did we do it?

  • We collaborated with stakeholders to design a product stewardship model for child car seats (2013-2015)
  • We set up effective end-to-end collection and dismantling operations from 2016, collaborating with retailer Baby on the Move, local councils and other interested organisations
  • We constantly innovate to create efficiencies in transport and processing
  • We work with social enterprise and Department of Corrections on dismantling to increase the social benefits of recycling seats
  • We provide seat straps at no cost to small businesses and organisations making bags from repurposed materials
  • We collaborate with processors and industry to improve recycling rates of plastics

Where to next

We continue to work with industry stakeholders to create a product stewardship solution which makes recycling accessible for all New Zealanders.

We regularly field calls from charities and road safety organisations who have received expired seats or replaced expired seats for families and would like to see these recycled but can’t afford to pay the recycling fee. 

A nationwide stewardship programme removes this burden by shifting the cost from the consumer (when they no longer want the seat) back to the producer and retailer (typically placing this at point of sale).

Working together, the child car seat industry has the opportunity to create a much-needed voluntary product stewardship programme.  If you’re an importer, manufacturer or retailer of child car seats, we’d love you to get involved.

Contact the SeatSmart project manager
Visit the SeatSmart website

Previous 3R Container return scheme

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ISO 14001:2015

Environmental management systems and safe work practices.

ISO 14001:2015 is an internationally recognised standard that certifies our commitment to environmental management systems and safe work practices.

Consistent with our environmental policy, the intended outcomes of our environmental management system include:

  • The enhancement of environmental performance;
  • The fulfilment of compliance obligations;
  • The achievement of environmental objectives.

Our ISO 14001:2015 certification includes 3R Operations, the Paint Product Stewardship Programmes, ChemCollect Service and the SeatSmart Child Car Seat Recycling Programme (owned and operated by 3R).

This certification is audited by TELARC.

ISO 45001:2018

Keeping our people safe, healthy and happy.

ISO 45001:2018 certification has been chosen to demonstrate the importance we place in caring for our people as we bring to life our values of Kaitiakitanga and Manaakitanga.

Keeping our team safe, healthy and happy is a primary focus for our business. We feel that the work our operations staff do makes this particularly important. Their responsibilities can include collecting and processing paint; collecting chemicals; driving trucks around the country; and getting hands-on with work wherever needed.

3R received ISO 45001:2018 certification in 2021. The ISO 45001:2018 certificate is valid for 3 years and includes annual surveillance audits which provide a valuable framework for further growth.

What is a circular economy?

New Zealand is “one of the highest generators of waste per person in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)”. The way we currently produce and manage our waste is not sustainable.

The current economy in New Zealand is linear: this equates to a process of take-make-use-dispose. The aim of the government is to move towards a circular economy.

A circular economy can refer to either biological or technical materials.

With biological materials, the cycle could be defined as make-consume-enrich. In this cycle waste returns to the environment and enriches the land.

A technical materials cycle may be more like make-use-return. In a technical materials cycle waste is repurposed and used to make something new.

Whether you need help with biological materials, technical materials, or both; 3R can partner with your business to assess your current waste, then help you reduce it.