‘Circular economy’ to follow plastic-bag ban
As single-use plastic bags get their marching orders, the Government is turning its attention to trying to reduce waste at the point of creation.
Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage said yesterday that the Environment Ministry planned to present research early next year on the ‘‘circular economy’’ and how it might work in New Zealand.
A circular economy was a complete shift away from the current disposable culture, she said.
Products were designed so that at the end of their lives, ‘‘the materials can be recovered and remade into other products, and kept circulating’’. Alternatively, ‘‘the product has a very long life and [is] easily repaired’’.
Last week’s decision to ban singleuse plastic bags within six months comes as recycling mounts up around the country, following China’s decision to limit the amount of plastic and paper it receives for recycling.
Sage said the Government and the business world had to work together to build more processing facilities at home and to stop waste.
Rachel Brown, chief executive of the Sustainable Business Network, said plastic bags were just ‘‘the tipping point’’ of a massive surge in packaging that had run rampant, and businesses now had to be far more mindful of their own impact. The organisation believed 30 per cent of waste could be reduced just by design.
A good example was Kiwi company Ethique, which had developed a soaplike shampoo that didn’t require plastic containers. ‘‘It’s really rocking that whole sector,’’ Brown said.
Meanwhile, Sage has set her sights on a carrot-and-stick solution to funding the country’s much-needed new recycling facilities.
She’s considering extending the waste disposal levy, which currently only applies to 10 per cent of landfills.
Sage said these landfills covered about 30 per cent of waste, largely from households.
‘‘But most waste is created in the commercial or industrial sector. So by having the levy apply to all landfills, that becomes an incentive to reduce waste going to landfill. And then, how do you deal with that? You look up the supply chain as to how you reduce the production of waste in the first place.’’
The levy would provide grants to businesses interested in building new recycling facilities, she said.
‘‘The landfill levy is a key tool because it is effectively an economic incentive to do the right thing. I think businesses are recognising there are major savings in doing things more sustainably . . . It won’t be solved overnight but I sense a real public appetite for us to do much better.’’