Political Statements

RONZ position statements are made and published an the basis of research and consensus amongst, at the very least, the RONZ board and at best by consensus amongst the membership - the statements will have their development method detailed. The intent behind publishing these statements is to ensure that what is published and reported by the media and others on a particular topic are truly representative of RONZ and not the perspective of an individual or a single business with interests in recycling.

Where public comments are required the board of RONZ authorises individuals to comment based on RONZ direction & policy. This authority must be confirmed to the enquirer before such commentary is approved for publication.

Commerce Commission Green Marketing Draft 2008

The New Zealand Commerce Commission have produced a draft document that considers Recyclability and Green claims in general being made by brandowners. The Fair Trading Act will be the overarching legislation. The green marketing guide will be a resource for brandowners. Please follow to link to read this document.

RONZ, as an endorsing signatory on the Packaging Accord, appreciate being invited to respond and have made a submission to the Commission which you are also invited to read. We believe that clarity is needed to remove an ongoing costly confusion and that if we can achieve this it will raise the credibility of brandowners as well as recyclers.

If you do not know what all the plastic symbols actually mean - read our submission.

WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment)

Refurbishment and Recycling Good Practice Guidelines

For an up-to-date view of proposed good practice guidlines and policy click here for a link though to the MfE web pages. Work is in progress with regards to WEEE, Hazardous Wastes both in terms of legislation and best practice guidlines.

You may be interested to follow the next two links to a couple of articles that appeared to the National Geograhic Magazine in January. They are a reminder that the actions we take will not only affect us all as New Zealanders but could also affect people in developing counties too.

link to Why Recycle?

link to High-Tech Trash

There is a great deal of information on the Ministry for the Environment Website that deals with specific waste streams, target setting and comparitive data from other countries. The final wording of the Waste Minimisation Solids Bill - see below - will affect the way we do things going forwards. Watch this space....

RONZ commissioned a report back in 2005 on the state of WEEE recycling and supporting processes and legislation accross Europe. To access that report click here

Waste Minimisation Bill

- for updates on the passage of this Bill - click here

Container Deposit Legislation

RONZ is very concerned at the probable and very negative impact of CDL on your kerbside recycling service.

CDL was originally introduced as a litter abatement tool and was very sucessful, in its day.

A 10 cent per bottle or can levy to incentivise recovery will result in theft from traditional kerbside programmes, these services are partially funded from your rates and partly funded by sale of the recovered materials. This probable loss of saleable materials will drive up the cost of your kerbside service and reduce the options for including a wider variety of potentially recyclable materials.

RONZ is surprised that the CDL lobby groups have not had the confidence to include fast food packaging in their dragnet; pizza boxes, milkshake and drink cups, chip boxes and pie bags make up much of the litter stream that CDL is supposed to target. There is a simpler, lower cost way to increase recycling in NZ - that is for you to get more involved making recycling an everyday habit. Put pressure on your council to include a wider range of materials in the recycling collection and RONZ members will find a way to recycle it for your benefit.

Solving the litter problem is something RONZ is heavily involved in, already there are several projects underway that will directly address litter reduction - one of these is 'Out & About Recycling' targeting packaging generated from food and drinks typically consumed in public places.

RONZ does not accept that the benefits, threats and risks of CDL have been properly defined by those lobbying for CDL.


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BioPlastics (PLA)

The term is new and already much confused and abused.

Bioplastics was intended to represent plant based (starch) plastics, in particular Polylactic Acid but now the term is used to refer to synthetic plastics that have degradation enhancing chemical added. RONZ, and many other organisations are concerned about this cynical application of the preface 'bio-' but lack the tools and resources to address that issue. RONZ is concentrating on the recycling issues around this new packaging material.

Similarly, the ability of PLA packaging to be composted is reliant on the existence of a sophisticated infrastructure. This is not sufficiently available in NZ at this date and is unlikely to be so in the foreseeable future.

Currently RONZ advocates that PLA is not recyclable in NZ.

However, RONZ appreciates that PLA is made from annually renewable materials that themselves can be produced with lower environmental impacts than synthesised oil.

RONZ endorses the intent of the producers of PLA and the brand owners that convert from oil based plastics to plant based
Plastics.

RONZ is encouraged by the establishment of a Product Stewardship Organisation for PLA, Greenplastics Inc. to educate and prepare for the introduction of this innovative packaging material.

In time and as public awareness of the environmental benefits and opportunities presented by PLA increases we expect the volume of PLA packaging used and discarded in NZ to increase. RONZ will monitor this consumption, will work with the brand owners and packaging companies and the councils to ensure that when the timing is right every recycling operator is ready to recover and recycle PLA packaging in all forms and from all applications

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We would appreciate your feedback.....email us