Waste Minimisation Act 2008

Overview

The purpose of the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 is to encourage waste minimisation and a decrease in waste disposal in order to protect the environment from harm and provide environmental, social, economic and cultural benefits.

In a nutshell, the Act:

  • puts a levy on all waste disposed of in landfills to generate funding to help local government, communities and businesses reduce the amount of waste

  • helps and, when necessary makes, producers, brand owners, importers, retailers, consumers and other parties take responsibility for the environmental effects of their products through product stewardship schemes

  • allows for regulations to be made making it mandatory for certain groups (for example, landfill operators) to report on waste to improve information on waste minimisation

  • clarifies the roles and responsibilities of territorial authorities (local councils) with respect to waste minimisation

  • introduces a Waste Advisory Board to give independent advice to the Minister for the Environment on waste minimisation issues.

Full details about the Act are available on the Ministry for the Environment's website:

www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/waste/waste-minimisation.html

 

Packaging Council Position

PAC.NZ

Before the Waste Minimisation Act was passed into law, it progressed through Parliament as a Bill. The Packaging Council entered a comprehensive submission to the Local Government and Environment Select Committee on this Bill and the key recommendations we made to the Select Committee were:

 

  • Broaden the definition of a product to allow the packaging itself to be defined as a product and be part of its own product stewardship scheme.

  • Publish a list of recognised voluntary product stewardship schemes and grant those schemes amnesty from the priority product list and regulation.

  • Exempt waste generated from recycling from any waste disposal levy.

  • Any levied funds should be 100% contestable.  50% should not be given to local authorities as of right.

  • The Waste Advisory Board should undertake a national strategic and economic assessment of waste management to identify where additional funding is required and at what level that funding needs to be to achieve the desired outcome.

  • Expand the proposed Waste Advisory Board to recognise that industry as a whole is a user of products and materials and a disposer of waste, whilst the commercial waste industry is a collector and processor of waste.  These are two different perspectives and both should be recognised to provide balance.

  • Territorial authorities must take into account any existing regulations or product stewardship schemes when making a new bylaw or amending an existing bylaw.

 

Click here to download a copy of the Packaging Council’s written submission to the Select Committee in October 2007.

Click here to download a copy of the Packaging Council’s oral presentation to the Select Committee in November 2007.

Click here to download a copy of the Packaging Council's independent cost benefit analysis of the product stewardship provisions in the Bill.

 

2009 Discussion Document - Waste Minimisation in New Zealand

In March 2009, the Ministry for the Environment published a discussion document on waste minimisation to seek feedback on policy proposed to implement the Waste Minimisation Act.

Click here to download the Packaging Council's submission to the Ministry for the Environment.

To date, no further action has been taken by the Ministry for the Environment with regard to the proposals set out in the discussion document.

 

Auckland Council Draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan

The Packaging Council has entered a submission on the Auckland Council Draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan (WMMP), which closed for submissions on the 31st January 2012.

Click here to download our submission

SUMMARY

Our submission is limited to three key areas of concern to the Packaging Council:

  • ‘Auckland will aim for the long term aspirational goal of zero waste…’ 1;
  • ‘advocacy for the introduction of mandatory product stewardship schemes for packaging such as beverage containers…’ 2; and
  • ‘enactment of a waste bylaw by 31 Oct 2012 to support the intent of the plan and actions detailed within it….’ 3

The Packaging Council does not support the long term aspirational goal of zero waste as we concur with the 2007 Auditor General’s report that ‘…a target should express what a council expects to achieve’.  The Packaging Council recommends all reference to zero waste is removed from the WMMP and, in line with the 2007 Auditor General’s report, be replaced with ‘achievable intermediary targets which will help the council assess its progress in diverting waste over the short or medium term’.

Mandatory product stewardship for beverage containers in the form of container deposit legislation is an out-dated, costly and inefficient means of dealing with a small part of the waste stream.  The Packaging Council does not support container deposit legislation on the basis of the economic evidence that the costs far outweigh the environmental benefits. 

The Packaging Council would much rather work in a collaborative environment with the Auckland Council whereby the council supports the Packaging Council’s Packaging Product Stewardship Scheme and works with industry to develop new policies which support the goals of waste management and minimisation in the context of existing infrastructure and cost-effective new infrastructure.

Development of a bylaw to support the policies of the WMMP should be delayed until such time that there is clarity on the purpose, nature, targets, methods and costs to enable proper consultation.

Whilst the Packaging Council broadly supports the Auckland Council’s vision for an eco-city, in the absence of a full cost-benefit analysis we do not believe that the draft WMMP in its present form provides clarity as to how this will be achieved, how much it would cost and where those costs would fall.

The Packaging Council also supports the submission lodged by the Waste & Recycling Council and would record particular support for their position on zero waste, mandatory product stewardship and the waste bylaw.

 

1. A vision:To become the most liveable eco city in the world, Auckland will aim  for the long term, aspirational goal of Zero Waste by 2040, turning its waste into resources (source: draft WMMP Page 7)

2. Advocacy for the introduction of mandatory product stewardship schemes for packaging such as beverage containers, and development of schemes for products such as electronic waste, tyres and batteries (source: draft WMMP Page 9)

3. Enactment of a waste bylaw by 31 Oct 2012 to support the intent of the plan and actions detailed within it, including a cleanfill regulation. (source: draft WMMP Page 9)

 

 

 

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TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING

77 Greenmount Drive, East Tamaki, Auckland 2013
PO Box 58899, Botany, Auckland 2163
PHONE 09 271 4044, FAX 09 271 4041
EMAIL: pac.nz@packaging.org.nz