Built in the open
The code, taxonomy, and marks are public. The system can be checked, copied, improved, and used without a procurement process.
Mō mātou · About
Why Love You, Bye exists.
Materials do not disappear. They move from shelf to bin to sorting line to their next use. Love You, Bye gives that journey a shared visual language.
A love language for materials.
Treat materials like we might see them again.
The problem
The rules got clearer. The language did not.
In 2024, household kerbside recycling rules became the same nationwide. That was a useful start.
But people meet materials long before the home bin and long after it. Packaging, offices, schools, public spaces, festivals, transfer stations, and sorting lines still need one clear way to say what something is, where it belongs, and what can happen next.
Love You, Bye is that missing shared language.
97
material marks
15
material groups
2
languages
The system
Simple enough to learn. Specific enough to use.
One mark per material
People should not need to decode three labels to make one decision. The mark names the material first.
English first, te reo Māori beneath
The pairing is part of the system, not an optional translation layer.
Made for the shelf and the bin
The same signal should work before purchase, at work, at school, in public, and at the sorting line.
Grounded in Aotearoa
The set aligns with the 2024 kerbside standard, standard bin colours, NZ material streams, and bilingual terminology work.
Ready to hand over
Love You, Bye is meant to become shared infrastructure, stewarded by a national body and kept free for public use.
Evidence
The detail sits in the report.
Waste data, policy references, and source links are kept separate so the main story stays clear.