The development of the methodology and the survey have been carried out by specialist waste consultancy Waste Not Consulting Ltd.

The survey was commissioned by the Packaging Forum’s Public Place Recycling Scheme in order to establish a national litter index.

Lyn Mayes, Manager of the Public Place Recycling Scheme, said: “One of our Key Performance Indicators is to target a reduction in the amount of packaging litter by 10% by 2020 but first we required an independent study into the current situation in New Zealand. This study, by Waste Not Consulting, provides us for the first time with national data about packaging litter but will also be a useful reference point for non-packaging organisations.”

The National Litter Survey litter field count involved the counting and classifying of loose litter, in situ, at 300 transects in eight urban areas – Auckland, Blenheim, Christchurch, Dunedin, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Taupo, and Wellington. These eight urban areas include 52% of the population of New Zealand.

Read the survey in full.

The successful projects will result in 44 new recycling and waste bin combinations being installed at hospitals, secondary schools and shopping areas. The recycling bins will promote the Government’s Love NZ brand to help drive national consistency.

Lyn Mayes, Manager of the Public Place Recycling Scheme says that applications were assessed against a range of criteria: “Our aim is to work with industry, local government and community groups to increase the availability of recycling bins in communities that do not currently have recycling facilities, tourist locations, venues where a lot of people consume snack food and beverages; and around our beaches and waterways.

“We support programmes which focus on family and children, are open to large numbers of the public and promote recycling at sporting and cultural initiatives. The projects funded through the scheme will over time significantly increase recycling and we hope will have a corresponding impact on reducing litter.”

The projects include:
• New recycling facilities in the cafés and public place areas at Auckland DHB and Middlemore Hospital;
• Support for a National Schools Project run by EERST which will trial recycling at 5 selected secondary schools around the country;
• Introduction of recycling facilities at Southmall in Manurewa which receives 4 million visits per annum;
• A pilot public place recycling initiative in Levin working with Horowhenua District Council; and
• Funding for Tauranga City Council to support recycling at the AIMS middle school sports tournament in September which sees 14000 people attending from around 200 schools in 18 sporting disciplines.

Marty Hoffart Chair of EERST Trust says: “Thanks to financial assistance from the Public Place Recycling Scheme, our not for profit organisation, EERST has been able to provide several high schools around the country with permanent recycling bins for beverage containers. This is going to make a real difference for these schools, because the bins will become a permanent fixture within the school grounds. This project would never have gone ahead without the grant.”

Companies funding the scheme include brand owners such as Bell Tea, Coca Cola Amatil, DB, Frucor, Lion, Mars Confectionery and Pernod Ricard Winemakers; retailers Countdown and The Warehouse; Quick Service Sector brands Burgerking, KFC, Starbucks, Carls Junior, Pizza Hut and BP’s Wild Bean Cafe; and those involved in manufacturing, distributing or recycling packaging e.g. Biopak, Ecoware, ExpressPak, Huhtamaki, Orora Beverage Cans, Tetra Pak, Smart Environmental, TPI Waste Management and Packaging House.

The latest funding round is now underway closing 11th August and successful applicants will be notified in September. Organisations seeking funding for capital expenditure projects can do so at the GPF website.

David Carter, Chair of the Forum, outlined the Forum’s role as a product stewardship organisation: “It’s a decade since the packaging industry signed the Packaging Accord which set targets for recycling, encouraged better design and anticipated an increase in end of life recycling options for post-consumer packaging waste including a focus on public place recycling.

As the Packaging Accord ended mid 2009 the Waste Minimisation Act came into law enabling the development of voluntary product stewardship schemes. Our work as a glass packaging organisation funded by voluntary levies allowed us to move relatively seamlessly from the Accord to an accredited product stewardship scheme.”

“Glass recovery increased from 50% in 2004 to 69% in 2014. This recycling rate is on a par with the European average of 70%. Over the same period the Forum has raised around $6.5 million to help support research and development, capital projects and consumer awareness and education programmes which support the work of local authorities.

“This year we have set a challenging recycling target of 78% by the time the scheme is up for renewal in 2017. To achieve this we have focused on identifying the whereabouts of the glass not being recycled and how best to recover it.”

“In 2010 the Forum took over the operational activities of the Love NZ public place recycling programme which central government had initiated during the Packaging Accord. Since then industry has matched the Government’s seed funding dollar for dollar and has more than doubled the number of Love NZ recycling bins at less cost. In November 2013 the Forum successfully achieved accreditation of its voluntary Public Place Recycling Scheme which sets targets to triple the number of public place recycling bins over seven years and to reduce litter by 10% over the same period.”

“Ten years ago our industry took a leadership role when it established a levy to address our collective role as product stewards. Over the past five years we have conducted consumer market research and stakeholder research to better understand what people expect of industry. We have listened and responded and as a result the Forum now represents more than the glass industry. Members of the Public Place Recycling Scheme include quick service restaurants; plastic, cans and paper manufacturers, shopping malls and transport hubs.”

“Our focus is outward towards the community rather than being a traditional member services organisation. This means that in addition to looking after the needs of our members we also seek to look after society’s needs. The two are not mutually exclusive. As we embark on our second decade, it is clear to us that product stewardship whether voluntary or mandatory must be a feature of the way we do business. It is important for the Forum to clarify its role representing all types of packaging as well as outlets where packaged goods are sold.”

“The Government has recently released its discussion paper outlining priority waste streams for product stewardship intervention. The proposed priority products are all products where voluntary measures have suffered from non-participation or free riders. We have proven that it is possible to develop packaging product stewardship schemes which are funded by industry and which work but we now need to address the gaps in our packaging product stewardship portfolio to build credible industry schemes beyond glass and public place recycling and seek accreditation for these.”

“In addition to the targets we have set for glass recovery, public place recycling and litter reduction, the community expects us to dial up the overall packaging recovery rate from the 56% recovery rate when lasted reported in 2010. The European average recovery rate was 77% in 2011 with a recycling rate of 64%. We believe that with effective product stewardship schemes in place to help increase packaging recovery from kerbside and public places, we should set a goal to achieve 70% recovery across all packaging by 2020.”

“Government has assessed packaging as having relatively low risk of harm but one which offers very high resource efficiency opportunities. We agree with this assessment. We do not however agree with the assessment that the packaging industry cannot self-regulate. We can and we have done as our two accredited schemes show and it’s now incumbent on us to extend our work programme to meet government and community expectations.”

The Fonterra Milk for Schools product stewardship scheme covers the collection of used packaging generated through its nationwide programme.

The used packaging is processed at Fonterra sites before being sent to international recycling facilities overseas, where it is broken down and used to make products such as roof tiles, books and paper.

As part of the scheme, each participating school is also visited by Fonterra to talk about the recycling aspect of the scheme and the importance of caring for the environment.

The Public Place Recycling product stewardship scheme funds projects to promote and influence the recycling of plastic, paper, aluminium and glass containers in public places, including research, infrastructure and educational programmes.

It is managed by the Glass Packaging Forum and scheme members include companies that manufacture products or packaging that are consumed mainly in public places. The scheme also includes venues where these products are consumed.
The scheme will also provide annual data on the amount of packaging and organic waste collected for recycling through the Love NZ branded public place recycling bins in New Zealand.

“These two newly-accredited recycling schemes show that industry is taking responsibility for waste,” Ms Adams says. “Both schemes recognise the important role industry has to play in encouraging the sensible disposal of waste, and educating the community about the value of recycling.”

Under the Waste Minimisation Act, the Minister for the Environment has the ability to recognise product stewardship schemes through accreditation.
A product stewardship scheme will only be accredited after it has been thoroughly assessed to ensure accreditation criteria have been met. In turn, accredited schemes have to report annually to the Minister on their objectives and targets.

There are now 11 voluntary product stewardship schemes accredited in New Zealand. Click here for more information on product stewardship.

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