50839 (2025). Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan to the Associate Minister of Education

50839 (2025). Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan to the Associate Minister of Education: In response to Reply 48984 (2025), how, if at all, is the School Lunch Collective, collecting, storing, and then transferring the aluminium trays for recycling?

Hon David Seymour: The School Lunch Collective (SLC) is responsible for the pickup of all waste and surplus meals from schools. I am advised that this is temporarily stored in the Central Production Kitchens and then, depending on available options, delivered to recycling, compositing, or landfill. 54 percent of SLC surplus meals (in the Bay of Plenty, Auckland and the Waikato) are sent to the recycling facility and to compositing. The SLC expects the recycling facility to have capacity this year to expand the recycling of aluminium trays and composting of food waste to include other regions in the North Island.