Overview

The New Zealand Packaging Accord 2004 is a voluntary product stewardship initiative to cut down on wasteful packaging.  There many definitions of Product Stewardship (also known as Extended Producer Responsibility), but the definition of most relevance to the packaging and packaged good industry is the one provided in the Packaging Accord 2004 document:

‘The principle that those who make products and sell them, the producers, should be responsible for the lifecycle impacts of those products throughout the production process and supply chain, and especially at the point where consumers generate packaging as waste.  It is an extension of the well-established policy principle of polluter pays often used in statutory measures and relevant to voluntary industry initiatives.’

By definition, the Packaging Accord is a product stewardship programme and the responsibilities of brand owners, retailers and the packaged goods industry are clearly described in the Packaging Accord 2004 document:

‘Brand owners and retailers choose product design; they and others share responsibility for these products throughout their lifecycle; from raw material selection and production to recovery and disposal.

The packaged good industry is responsible for designing products and ways of making them so as to minimise adverse environmental and social effects.’

Product Stewardship Legislation

In July 2005, the Ministry for the Environment published a Discussion Document on Product Stewardship, which considered a number of policy options and their abilities to achieve useful reductions in waste.  The Ministry stated their preferred option is for voluntary agreements, like the Packaging Accord, with legislation as a backstop only if required.

In August 2006, the Ministry for the Environment published a summary of submissions on their Product Stewardship Discussion Document.  The submissions broadly reinforced the Ministry’s preferred option, to use voluntary mechanisms such as the Packaging Accord, with regulation as a safety net to fill in the gaps.

Packaging Council Position

The Packaging Council is a strong advocate of voluntary product stewardship (extended producer responsibility) to achieve waste minimisation and would be in favour of measures to bring ‘free-riders’ into the Packaging Accord.

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TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING

77 Greenmount Drive, East Tamaki, Manukau
PO Box 58899, Greenmount, Auckland
PHONE 09 271 4044, FAX 09 271 4041
EMAIL: pac.nz@packaging.org.nz