NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Simon Moutter: Five things that need to be done about waste

NZ Herald
15 Dec, 2021 04:00 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

The leadup to Christmas is a busy time for supermarkets. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

The leadup to Christmas is a busy time for supermarkets. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Opinion

The Christmas break is just around the corner, and after the year we've endured, most of us are more badly in need of it than ever.

As we kick back and enjoy precious time with friends and family over the coming weeks, let's spare a thought for those who won't yet be getting a break, and who'll be hard at work behind the scenes to allow it all to happen.

For the people who collect and recycle our waste, the festive season is as busy as it gets, certainly when it comes to household waste.

Thousands of men and women will be working overtime to deal with the mountains of extra food scraps, empty bottles, packaging and so on that Kiwis will generate. It's their hard work that ensures Christmas and New Year leftovers aren't left to rot in the summer heat, and holiday hotspots from Whatuwhiwhi to Whangamata – where the population suddenly swells – don't get swamped in waste.

Waste collection and recycling is one of those industries that modern society can't function without, but one that, for a whole lot of reasons, people prefer not to think much about.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This needs to change. In an increasingly resource-constrained world, we all have to be far more aware of the volume of waste we generate through our choices and behaviours as consumers, and of what we each can do to bring that volume down.

Now is the perfect time for the public to get engaged. The Government has embarked on a historic reset of the waste industry, with a view to radically reducing waste generation, and increasing the volumes we recycle, reuse, and recover. All of this is welcome, but if it's going to succeed, it needs be shaped by the way individuals behave, and therefore needs a strong degree of public input and buy-in.

In the past week, the Government has wrapped up public consultation on the high-level thinking behind its long-term strategy for waste. Over the coming year, it will be looking for feedback as it nails down specifics.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

There are five key areas where waste collection and recycling companies are calling for strong and clear leadership from the Government:

1. Deposit scheme

The Government plans to introduce a deposit scheme for drink cans and bottles, to incentivise reuse and recycling. That's a good start, but it needs to go a lot further. We'd like to see a small, redeemable deposit placed on a much-wider range of products – i.e. all glass jars and bottles, and all plastic packaging, sold in supermarkets. This would encourage consumers and producers to take greater responsibility for waste, and increase the range of materials that could be recycled and recovered in an economically viable way.

2. Clear rules for recycling

While we need to see a change towards materials and packaging that can be reused, there will always be products that have to be recycled. The rules for what can and cannot go into recycling bins are confusing and complex, and change from one part of the country to the next. The vast majority of consumers out there want to do the right thing, but so often don't know how. We need clear and consistent rules across the country, supported by a simple, consumer-centric labelling system for recycling, with a nationwide communications programme to educate the public on how to use it.

3. Targeted investment

Big increases are under way in the Government's waste disposal levy and, as a result, hundreds of millions of dollars more will be available each year for waste minimisation initiatives. This new source of capital represents an exciting opportunity, but it has to be managed really carefully – through strong investment guidelines and criteria – to make sure levy funds go where they will generate maximum benefit. Early priorities for investment include cleaning up historical landfills, public education, and data systems; further ahead, money needs to go towards world-class, low-carbon recycling and recovery infrastructure.

4. Dealing with unmanaged landfills

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Most of the harmful emissions from solid waste in New Zealand come from smaller, unmanaged landfills around the country – landfills without gas capture capability, and farm fills. A lot more work needs to be done to monitor and restrict what goes into these facilities. Many of them will need upgrading, and many will simply need to be closed down.

5. Clear objectives

Possibly most importantly, all of this needs to be guided by a really clear understanding on the part of the Government of what it's trying to achieve. At the moment, the Government's waste policy is pursuing multiple objectives (reducing emissions, increasing recycling and recovery rates, minimising waste generation), without prioritising between them.

The problem is that, when all steps in the chain are considered, the objectives are often in conflict. For instance, new regional facilities may be proposed that increase the amount we can recycle or recover, but also lead to increased CO2 emissions as a result of extra transport of waste.

Our firm view is that the over-arching objective must be to address climate change. First and foremost, government decisions on waste must be guided by how well they contribute to reducing carbon and methane emissions.

• Simon Moutter is chairman of Smart Environmental and a spokesman for the Waste Management Industry Forum, a group of waste collection and recycling companies that, taken together, manage about 85 per cent of the waste and recycling flow in New Zealand.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Aspiring pilot, Massey University student accused of sharing child abuse videos from campus

07 Jul 06:00 AM
New Zealand

'Huge shock': Community mourns beloved postie killed on final delivery

07 Jul 05:59 AM
Premium
Politics

Seymour reckons banks are 'fairly taxed', expects Willis' work will find same

07 Jul 05:47 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Aspiring pilot, Massey University student accused of sharing child abuse videos from campus

Aspiring pilot, Massey University student accused of sharing child abuse videos from campus

07 Jul 06:00 AM

Marc Dmello wanted his name secret, fearing it could harm his chance of becoming a pilot.

'Huge shock': Community mourns beloved postie killed on final delivery

'Huge shock': Community mourns beloved postie killed on final delivery

07 Jul 05:59 AM
Premium
Seymour reckons banks are 'fairly taxed', expects Willis' work will find same

Seymour reckons banks are 'fairly taxed', expects Willis' work will find same

07 Jul 05:47 AM
'Keep an eye out': Police appeal for missing woman in Auckland

'Keep an eye out': Police appeal for missing woman in Auckland

07 Jul 05:46 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP