Minister welcomes report of nation’s household plastic rubbish, recycling practices

“The report by WasteMINZ provides a valuable insight into what’s ending up in household rubbish and recycling bins around the country. It highlights the value of much better product design so products and their materials can be easily re-used or recycled, and the need to reduce what we use, reuse what we can, and recycle properly,” said Eugenie Sage.

“It’s a timely wake-up call for designers, manufacturers, retailers and marketers to shift towards more recyclable and re-useable packaging. There is a strong public demand for this.”

Key findings were:

An estimated 181 million containers showed no plastic identification code or recycling information.
39 percent of household plastic bottles and containers are being sent to landfill, despite being fully recyclable.

“Through this nationwide trawl of household rubbish and recycling bins, we are able to get a clearer picture of the extent of the challenge and the urgent need for this Government’s ambitious plan to reduce waste.”

The audit and report are part of a three year project supported by a $425,000 grant from the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund. The project was led by WasteMINZ New Zealand in partnership with councils and done late last year in several cities and regional towns across New Zealand.

“The management of plastic is a global issue which needs government to set direction, provide leadership and put in place supporting regulations, incentives and investment. That is what we are doing,” said Eugenie Sage.

“This report and the recent report Rethinking Plastics in Aotearoa New Zealand by the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor both provide solid information to help inform our government’s work programme to reduce waste.”

That plan includes:

A container return scheme for drink bottles and cans
Regulated product stewardship schemes for tough waste issues such as e-waste, tyres and batteries
A National Resource Recovery work programme in response to China and other countries’ bans on importing waste and recyclables
Improving waste data
Expanding and improving the landfill levy to help fund more ways to recover, re-use and reprocess materials and minimise waste.
A $40 million Provincial Growth Fund investment to turn plastic waste into useful material for businesses and consumers.

“Many solutions already exist. As we focus on solving remaining challenges, we’ll stimulate innovation, create well-paid jobs, create a more efficient economy where resources are re-used, and reduce our impacts on nature” said Eugenie Sage.

More information about the report can be found on WasteMINZ's website: https://www.wasteminz.org.nz/2020/01/nz-now-leads-the-world-in-understanding-plastic-recycling-habits/

Latest Environment Announcements

Story

Further environmental mismanagement on the cards

The Government’s resource management reforms will add to the heavy and ever-growing burden this Government is loading on to our environment.

Scrapping Significant Natural Areas shows significant neglect

The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife ...

Say hello to NZ’s most anti-environment government in decades

The Government is giving big industry a free pass to bulldoze New Zealand’s precious native wildlife.

Govt trashing nature for its industry mates

The Government’s repeal of the Natural and Built Environment Act is rushed, ideologically motivated, and will be hugely damaging to the health of o...

Green Party calls for stronger action by Auckland Council to protect urban trees and native forest

The Green Party is calling on Auckland Council to do more to protect urban trees and housing developer Aedifice Property Group to restore and repla...

You wood not believe it: Greens secure win for urban trees

The Green Party’s advocacy has secured an amendment to the Natural and Built Environment Bill at a crucial stage of the Parliamentary process to en...

Latest Waste Announcements

Story

Opportunity to build a more sustainable economy

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumer...

Greens welcome waste strategy release and work

The Green Party is today welcoming the release of the Government’s waste strategy, but says it has a big gap without action on the container return...

Container return scheme will benefit recycling and the oceans

The work Green Ministers did last term is continuing to make a difference, with the announcement today that the Government is planning to introduce...

Waste strategy needs to learn from nature

Anything less than a transformational national waste strategy and waste legislation will not be enough, the Green Party said today.

Greens welcome progress on hard to recycle and single use plastics, but more needs to be done

The Green Party welcomes progress on the phase-out of some hard to recycle plastics and some single-use plastics, but says more must be done.

More action on waste – Government funds recycling infrastructure, moves to standardise kerbside collections

$36.7m Government investment in high-tech recycling plants nationwide Plan to standardise and improve the nation’s kerbside collections As part o...