Matta teams up to fight

Ōtaki company Matta Products has teamed up with I Used To Be, an innovative company specialising in repurposing deflated and popped pool toys.

Created by Aucklander Nina Darrah (photo below) after returning from the UK, I Used To Be was inspired by a woman Nina met who makes bags out of bouncy castles. Nina saw an opportunity to prolong the life of pool toys. Being conscious of single-use plastics, she wanted to keep unwanted inflatables out of the landfill by repurposing them into hardy, splash-proof bags.

Pool toys are made out of PVC, a type of plastic that is not recyclable in New Zealand. Instead, these discarded items are transformed by Nina into unique, handmade bags perfect for carrying wet clothing, beach essentials, or for weekend getaways.

The process of creating the bags begins with hand-cutting the pool toys. Any scraps that cannot be used to make bags are sent to Matta’s factory in Ōtaki. There, they are chipped, blended

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