Regulated Product Stewardship and Your Packaging
Regulated Product Stewardship and Your Packaging
Regulated Product Stewardship (RPS) is reshaping how New Zealand businesses think about packaging. Under the Waste Minimisation Act, the Government has declared several “priority products”, including plastic packaging, which must now be managed through mandatory stewardship schemes.
If you’re a brand owner or importer, you’ll be expected to:
join an accredited scheme for any relevant priority products
measure and report the packaging you place on the NZ market
contribute levies that fund collection, recycling and system improvements.
For wine, spirits and online brands, that makes every piece of bubble wrap, foam, plastic insert and mixed‑material gift box part of your future RPS footprint.
How Flexi‑Hex Helps You Meet RPS Expectations
Flexi‑Hex is a patented honeycomb paper sleeve and box system made from recycled paper, designed to replace plastic‑based protection for bottles and other fragile products.
Key features that align with RPS goals:
Plastic‑free: Flexi‑Hex sleeves are made from over 85% recycled paper pulp and contain no plastic.
Kerbside‑recyclable: Used sleeves and outers can be flattened and placed straight into paper/cardboard collections, fitting existing NZ recycling systems.
Biodegradable and home compostable: Fibre‑based materials break down far faster than conventional plastics and foams.
Highly protective: The honeycomb structure expands to form a strong, impact‑absorbing shell that has been proven in demanding e‑commerce channels.
By moving secondary and D2C packaging into a single, fibre‑based solution, brands can reduce plastic tonnages, simplify reporting and support the kind of design‑for‑recycling that RPS is driving.
How Woodhill Distribution Supports Your Transition
At Woodhill Distribution, we specialise in helping NZ producers cut plastic, reduce damages and prepare for a more regulated packaging future.
We can help you:
audit where plastics and complex materials show up in your existing pack formats
match Flexi‑Hex sleeves and boxes to your cellar‑door, D2C, sample or spirits channels
trial new packaging in your courier network before you scale.
RPS will keep raising the bar on how packaging is designed and recovered. Flexi‑Hex gives you a practical, on‑brand way to move first.
Flexi‑Hex in Action: From Cellar Door to D2C
Woodhill Distribution works with wineries, distilleries and online brands across New Zealand to replace plastic‑based protection in real‑world channels.
Examples of how Flexi‑Hex fits:
Cellar door: protecting bottles that ship directly from the winery, without resorting to plastic void fill or foam.
D2C wine and spirits: using capsules, sleeves and right‑sized corrugated outers to move away from mixed‑material packs and into mono‑material fibre solutions.
Samples and trade shipments: sending 1–3 bottle sample kits in recyclable paper packaging that reflects your sustainability story as well as your wine or spirit.
For early adopters, Flexi‑Hex has enabled complete removal of non‑recyclable plastics from online orders while maintaining high levels of protection for glass bottles.
What RPS Means for Wine, Spirits and E‑Commerce Brands
RPS doesn’t just ask you to deal with waste at the end. It pushes responsibility back to the design stage, encouraging simpler, more recyclable packaging and less plastic overall.
In practice, that means:
pressure to remove EPS, foam and hard‑to‑recycle plastics from your logistics and D2C packaging
a shift toward mono‑material, fibre‑based packs that work in kerbside recycling systems
growing scrutiny from retailers, export markets and consumers on how you wrap and ship your products.
Switching out a roll of plastic bubble wrap for a fibre‑based solution can become a measurable, reportable step in meeting your stewardship responsibilities.
