New Zealand is one of the highest generators of waste per capita in the developed world¹. This might come as a surprise to those who think landfills have no place in a developed country like New Zealand. But it will be no surprise to councils and waste contractors who each week collect and dispose of the waste left at the kerb by their residents and businesses.

New Zealand’s wasteful habits are not only a problem because of the landfill space required. Products that fill the waste stream have used energy to be produced, transported and consumed, and they emit greenhouse gases as they decompose in landfills. Reducing New Zealand’s waste would also help the country reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. In June 2021, the Climate Change Commission advised that to meet our emission reductions targets under the Climate Change Response Act 2002, New Zealand needs to adopt a long term strategy to reduce waste.

What to do?

The Government is currently consulting on a new national waste strategy: Taking Responsibility for Our Waste to replace the current 2005 strategy, with the final waste strategy (which takes into account submissions) to be released by mid-2022.

The new strategy includes a plan for legislative reform. The new legislation would replace the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (WMA) and the Litter Act 1979 (Litter Act) and provide a complete reset of the purposes, principles, governance arrangements, and roles and responsibilities in waste management. 

The aim is to transform what is largely a linear economy (where natural materials are taken and made into products that are then thrown out) into a circular economy (where products and materials are kept in use, as inputs for other processes, for as long as possible, so waste that must be disposed to landfill is kept to a minimum). In a circular economy every person’s waste must be treated as a treasure for us all. 

While this is a concept that other countries have already implemented, New Zealand is lagging behind. For example, the 2005 strategy did not include references to the circular economy or a plan to understand how waste is disposed of in New Zealand. 

To catch up with the rest of the developed world, MfE has proposed a pathway to move towards a low-waste circular economy based on the following 5 key policy proposals. 

1. Waste facility licensing

Historically, New Zealand’s waste system had been regulated through the local government and public health statutes, along with the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and the Litter Act 1979. 

The responsibility fell largely on individual local authorities and the private sector to manage waste disposal. The Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (WMA) changed this slightly by bringing together the local government and public health provisions under one Act and creating a role for central government - but the underlying unregulated model remained the same. 

Some territorial authorities in New Zealand already operate local licensing systems through bylaws, but this creates slightly different systems and processes across the country. In places that do not use a licensing system, anyone can run and operate a waste or disposal facility so long as they obtain the appropriate resource consents. The WMA provides no approval process to control who can collect, process or dump waste, and there is no obligation to minimise waste.

Proposal: MfE proposes to introduce national waste facility licensing to control who can undertake waste management and require the licence holders to meet certain criteria. Licences will improve oversight and accountability in the waste management sector, as well as supporting tighter regulation as to how waste is dealt with through duty of care provisions. 

This will impact existing waste facilities, as well as future waste facilities. 

2. Waste levy

Current situation: New Zealand imposes a waste levy on waste going to disposal facilities, a concept that covers four classes of landfills by 2025. The levy is set at $10 per tonne – an amount that is too low to deter disposal of products that could be reused. The lack of funding to support waste infrastructure (from this levy, and more broadly) means there is a current waste infrastructure deficit of over $2 billion.

Proposal: New legislation would broaden the range of activities subject to the levy to include other non-circular activities, such as certain types of waste-to-energy operations or even down-cycling (the process of turning recycled material into products that can’t themselves be recycled). 

The aim is to encourage the circulation of material within the economy through reuse and recycling, and change negative behavior (like illegal dumping). 

The funds collected from the levy would be used for waste minimisation purposes only. Under the present system, the funds from the levy are split 50/50 between local government and central government and are used for a wider range of waste management activities. The levy funds are expected to increase significantly in the coming years and will have a crucial part to play in the transition to a circular economy. MfE has also proposed to distribute funds on a more equitable basis (instead of by population as it is done currently), taking better account of the needs of each individual council. 

3. Hazardous waste 

Current situation: The collection, transport, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous waste need to be carefully handled to reduce risks to human health and the environment. 

While hazardous waste is mostly generated by industrial processes, ‘waste hazardous substances’ are also generated in homes and by businesses. The public is generally unaware of their role in the widespread generation of waste hazardous substances which leads to this type of waste not being handled and disposed of properly. 

Hazardous waste is regulated by many agencies (local authorities, WorkSafe and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA)) and is legislated under many Acts, including:

• The Resource Management Act;
• The Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996;
• Imports and Exports (Restrictions) Act 1988; and
• Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

An EPA working group found hazardous waste regulation to be underdeveloped, incomplete and complex. 

Proposal: Better regulation for hazardous waste will form part of the new waste legislation. Licensed waste facilities would create more control over which waste facilities could access hazardous waste and could regulate how it was handled. Other licensing requirements could involve mandatory tracking systems for hazardous waste and improved compliance and enforcement tools to minimise mishandling.

4. Product stewardship schemes

Product stewardship, as a circular economy tool, means that the responsibility and cost for a product’s entire lifecycle (including its disposal, once it is no longer used) stays with those involved in its manufacture, importation, retail and use. Product stewardship ensures that the task of disposing of the product at the end of its life does not fall on the public, local authorities or mother-nature. 

Current situation: There are currently 12 active and accredited voluntary product stewardship schemes in New Zealand. Accreditation of the schemes (a form of government endorsement) gives them credibility and reassures customers. However, these voluntary schemes can have limited participation and coverage, and they are difficult to establish given the time consuming and costly accreditation process.  

Last year, the Minister declared seven ‘priority products’ - tyres, e-waste, large batteries, refrigerants, farm plastics, agrichemicals and their containers, and plastic packaging. The development of mandatory schemes for these priority products is already underway.

Proposal: MfE suggests improving the accreditation process by widening the objective (currently limited to ‘measurable waste minimisation, treatment or disposal’). 

MfE proposes to introduce boutique stand-alone powers to support the introduction of mandatory product stewardship schemes. The new powers would include wider fee-setting ability to allow the setting and charging of levies so the schemes are fully self-funding. A new levy power could also enable ‘eco-modulation’ where charges are structured to penalise the use of less environmentally friendly materials and reward better ones. 

5. Improved compliance

Current situation: MfE and the EPA carry out most of the compliance, monitoring and enforcement work related to the obligations under the WMA. In practice, this has not given good results as neither entity has the capability to enforce these provisions. Local government is primarily responsible for enforcing the Litter Act.

Compliance responsibilities will increase significantly over the next few years to cover the expanded group of landfills covered by the waste levy, new product bans and the product stewardship schemes. 

Proposal: To improve compliance, MfE proposes to improve investigation powers for enforcing environmental crime under the waste management system. The new legislation would include: 

• Information sharing arrangements between relevant enforcement agencies; 
• Powers to require information to be provided; 
• Powers to stop and search vehicles; 
• Access to premises;
• New tools to manage non-compliance: statutory warning letters, enforceable undertakings, infringement processes, restorative justice approaches and a variety of low- and high-level offences; and
• A wider range of penalties: from instant fines to significant financial penalties, community service and obligations to repair or make good on environmental damage.

What can you do? 

You can have your say as part of the public consultation process, open until 10 December 2021. 

1. In 2018, New Zealand sent 781 kilograms of municipal waste per person to landfill, an amount 49% higher than the OECD average of 538 kilograms per capita (https://data.oecd.org/waste/municipal-waste.htm).