[As published in March/April BayBuzz magazine.]

Aotearoa New Zealand’s approach to tackling two major issues – waste reduction and emissions – is changing, and seemingly not for the better.

The end of last year saw the Government quietly drop four out of five of the previous administration’s kerbside collection initiatives and delayed some plastic phase-outs. 

This followed changes to the Waste Minimisation Fund earlier in 2024, which essentially mean some of the money will be directed to projects which don’t in fact aim to reduce waste.

The Second Emissions Reduction Plan, published in December last year, saw the circular economy – a key driver of waste reduction – dropped entirely after being referenced 80 times and having its dedicated chapter in the first plan. It’s striking, because the circular economy is widely accepted as being vital to making far more efficient use of resources, reducing waste and emissions, and tackling climate change.

There was one significant win, in our view, with a regulated product stewardship scheme for managing refrigerant gases announced as one of eight high-level policies which government believes have the most potential to lower the county’s emissions.

Waste reduction changes

Changes to government’s programme for tackling waste set the tone for a far more relaxed approach – despite the country still being one of the biggest waste producers per capita in the world.

The only kerbside collections policy initiative that survived the changes is the standardisation of materials collected at kerbside – which is already in effect. The other four initiatives aimed at improving household recycling and waste have been put on hold indefinitely. This ends upcoming requirements for:

• Councils to introduce household recycling services in all urban areas (with a population of more than 1,000 people);

• Councils to introduce household food scrap collection services in all urban areas;

• Private waste companies to report data on recycling and food scrap collections;

• Councils to meet a performance standard in terms of the amount of kerbside waste diverted from landfill.

The Ministry for the Environment’s website says the move is aimed at reducing extra costs for councils and allows them the choice around rolling out new services.

The result will be little increase in kerbside waste diverted from landfill as councils prioritise other, pressing issues. Surveys regularly find most New Zealanders want to ‘do the right thing’ but lack either the right knowledge or access to services.

Kerbside services achieve both by providing access while encouraging the correct behaviour through the public education campaigns which come with their rollout.

Data is another crucial element. As the saying goes, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Waste data has always been sparse and lacking detail in New Zealand, which makes it difficult to put effective, targeted changes and policies in place.

A lack of data also masks the problem – if you don’t know about it, why worry about it?

Plastics bans delayed, some indefinitely

The deadline of 2025 for phasing out PVC and polystyrene food and drink packaging not covered by previous bans, has been completely removed by government. The phase-out was supposed to come into effect this year, following earlier phase-outs of single-use plastic items like straws, plastic tableware and cutlery.

The Ministry says it will now essentially be looking further into the ban and engaging with stakeholders before providing advice to the Minister and Cabinet.

The deadline for plastic produce labels to be replaced with compostable options on produce was also extended, from 2025 to 2028. The Ministry says this gives growers more time and aligns with regulatory changes overseas – most notably in the European Union.

Waste minimisation funding

Changes in this area continue a trend of slowing down on waste minimisation.

The Waste Minimisation Fund, administered by the Ministry for the Environment, is split 50/50 with half going to councils to use for waste reduction work, while the other half is awarded through a contestable fund.

The changes mean $177.7 million from the fund can now be awarded to projects which are not strictly aimed at waste reduction, but are more broadly beneficial to the environment. An amendment to the Waste Minimisation Act 2008, passed under urgency in May last year, makes this possible.

The move was recently criticised by the Invercargill mayor and all the city councillors, for a lack of transparency and consultation, and for diverging from the original intent of the Waste Minimisation Act.

A circular economy is good for the economy

The circular economy is a system shift away from the current economically and environmentally unsustainable linear economy. The economic and environmental benefits are numerous and well documented. New Zealand Trade and Industry, for example, says it offers an economic advantage worth $8.8 billion for Auckland alone, “through reducing wasted resources, optimising material lifecycles and consumer demand.”

Globally, it puts the figure at US$4.5 trillion.

Benefits to the environment and emissions reductions are self-evident – curbing the use of natural resources reduces the impact of their extraction on habitats, biodiversity and the quality of the air, water, and food we rely on. Products made with reuse and recycling in mind have a hugely reduced impact as they result in less pollution and land lost to landfill.

Why is the refrigerants scheme a win?

It’s a reason to celebrate as it recognises the power of product stewardship to have a positive impact on our environment when an entire industry is engaged.

Refrigerants are some of the most potent greenhouse gases – with thousands of times more warming potential than carbon dioxide. They are used in a wide variety of industries, from large cool stores to supermarkets, homes, and refrigerated transport.

The refrigerants scheme is an industry-led solution built within the New Zealand context to deal with a waste product. It will have all of industry participation, manage the gases throughout their lifecycle, and be highly transparent with measurable, publicly available targets and outcomes.

Slowing down, but still optimistic

The net result of the changes, along with a reduction in Ministry for the Environment staff numbers by more than a quarter, sends a signal that the country is slowing down and switching into cruise control on waste reduction.

One might be forgiven for thinking we must already be world leaders in this area and further improvements can only be incremental. Data tells a different story though.

Cost is the most frequent reason given for these backtracks, but as Wellington City Councillor and Chair of the Regional Waste Management and Minimisation Plan Committee, Iona Pannett, says, there is no zero-cost option. Not dealing with recycling and food waste requires more landfills to be built, run and maintained, which has a cost.

She, and many others, will point to the valuable resource food waste represents.

There is still some reason to be optimistic though. While the difference between the first and second emissions reduction plans feels like we’re starting from scratch and dropping some of the most promising initiatives, the fact the regulated refrigerants scheme survived is reason to celebrate.

This will be the country’s second such scheme after the launch of the Tyrewise regulated product stewardship scheme for end-of-life tyres in 2024. 3R has led work on both.

They show that system-wide change is possible when government and business work together to co-design solutions. In our view, many industries want to make these changes, but they need the right signals and regulatory environment to have the confidence to act. 

Dominic works at 3R, which designs, implements and manages product stewardship schemes for individual businesses or industry-wide groups. They also help businesses take a fresh look at their waste to first minimise and then recover what would otherwise be wasted.