Aotearoa NZ Made
The story behind the rubbish bags Aotearoa NZ Made Ltd manufactures.
Aotearoa NZ Made Ltd started in 2000 as Budget Plastic Company Ltd, manufacturing rubbish bags and reprocessed granules /pellets.
In 2017, the name changed to Aotearoa NZ Made Limited, reflecting the desire to promote New Zealand-made products from recycled materials.
Based in Palmerston North, Aotearoa NZ Made Limited is focused on reprocessing post-consumer plastic. The main products recycled are milk and detergent bottles, ice cream and yogurt containers and plastic film sourced from all over the North Island from preferred recyclers back into granules.
Once Aotearoa NZ Made Limited have processed the recycled materials into granules, they use them in their manufacturing or sell to other companies.
The advantages of buying a New Zealand-made product are that it helps reduce the carbon footprint and uses recycled material that would otherwise be exported or landfilled.
Aotearoa NZ Made Limited helps recycle plastics for some of New Zealand’s largest companies that were previously landfilling their recycling because no one was interested in reprocessing or exporting.
More companies are interested in understanding the process of reprocessing the granules and the eventual products that the recycled material is made into so they can tell that story to their customers.
Aotearoa NZ Made – Sun Made Bags
Aotearoa NZ Made Ltd can now say our Rubbish Bags are made from 100% recycled materials using the sun’s energy.
In late 2025, the Contractors installed the roof-mounted Solar PV System with minimal infrastructure disruption. The system consists of 232 panels producing a potential 137kwh of power in optimal conditions.
The financial benefits have been straightforward; we’re saving on the cost of power long term, which is only going to get more expensive. Plus, we get to sell the power back into the grid when not operational.
Perfect timing for using Solar Power to run our Rubbish Bag Blow Film Machines and Bag Cutters to produce rubbish bags, as it’s a more eco-friendly approach to future-proof the business against rising energy prices and meet customers’ expectations for a more eco- friendly rubbish bag.
