Laws useless against tide of rubbish, say critics

Only a fraction of the country's scrapped TVs and computers are handed in on eDay. Photo / Dean Purcell

Old computers, televisions and other potentially hazardous gadgets are piling up faster than New Zealand can deal with them - and new waste laws will do little about it, say critics.

Major new waste rules, including a 20c-a-bag charge on household rubbish taken to the tip, kicked in on July 1.

Government officials now have the power to force makers and sellers of products to take responsibility for their waste at the end of a product's life.

But critics say officials are being too cautious about using the new powers.

The Environment Ministry is looking at requiring take-back and recycling schemes and/or design changes to cut harm to the environment for farm chemicals, used engine oil and refrigerator gases.

Computers, televisions and packaging are not on the priority list.

Jonathon Hannon of the Zero Waste Academy, a training and education body based at Massey University, said the IT industry had been meeting for more than two years to find ways to deal with a growing tide of hazardous e-waste and it was "extraordinary" its products had not been included.

"We should take advantage of the fact these people have been meeting for two years, working things out, and put a bit of acid on them to actually generate a final solution," he said.

Computer Access New Zealand, organiser of the annual computer take-back day eDay, told the ministry in a written submission on its waste strategy that e-waste should have been earmarked for a compulsory product stewardship scheme to require producers and sellers to adopt measures to deal with products from cradle to grave.

Voluntary schemes had failed to materialise after three years of meetings and industry players had indicated that Government intervention was needed to prevent freeloaders, it said.

eDay was managing to collect only about 10 per cent of the more than 600,000 computers and TVs imported each year.

Mr Hannon said a good re-use and recycling scheme would add only about $25 to the price of a $1500 computer.

The ministry has said it will keep an eye on products, including computers, televisions and packaging, and decide whether they need compulsory product stewardship schemes in two or three years' time.

A 2006 report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment cast doubt on a long-standing Government policy of preferring to wait for industries to come up with their own, voluntary stewardship schemes.

The report found New Zealand seemed "somewhat fixated" on voluntary measures - such as the 2004 Packaging Accord - and had not properly considered using taxes, levies, deposit schemes and subsidies despite their success in other countries.

Shortly after the report, the Waste Minimisation Bill promoted by Nandor Tanczos, who was then a Green MP, was drawn in the ballot of private members' bills waiting to be debated. It later became law.

It encourages makers and sellers of products to come up with their own schemes, but allows the ministry to step in if necessary.

A total of 260 people and groups made submissions on the ministry's waste strategy, including which products should be given compulsory stewardship schemes.

The ministry is due to make a summary available in the next few weeks.