WITH China no longer accepting recycling materials in the way it used to, the wheels have come off the global garbage truck.
It was good while it lasted, but the feel-good illusion of global recycling has come to an end as China decides to instead look after its own pollution problems.
WasteMINZ chief executive Paul Evans said the current issues with recycling are not short-term problems, but symptoms of the fact that our way of handling materials in the economy is “fundamentally broken”.
“At present, companies can place products on the market with little consideration for what happens to them once they have been used,” he said.
“This is at the root of the problem that the recycling industry is facing.”
A long-term solution to the waste problem required that manufacturers and distributors had greater responsibility for their products during their life cycle.
Mr Evans said that in July of 2017, China announced restrictions on the import of 24 types of material into the country.
“China now has strict standards for the import of mixed paper and mixed plastics,” he said.
The new standards require very low contamination levels, out of reach for kerbside collection processes.
“Unless solutions are found urgently, material collected for recycling could end up in landfills,” Mr Evans said.
“This would damage the public trust in our kerbside recycling systems that has been built up over many years.”
The new import regulations in China were already affecting New Zealand local authorities.
“More than 80 per cent of councils surveyed are either stockpiling, selling plastics at a lower price, or struggling to find new buyers,” Mr Evans said.
“The situation has now reached the point where our recycling system is in crisis.”
The model where manufacturers could put products on the market without being environmentally responsible had to change, he said.
“It relies on councils and recyclers reacting to and cleaning up whatever materials producers decide to put on the market,” Mr Evans said.
Cleaning up these materials was not always possible.
“There’s too much cost and not enough value for the current recycling model to be sustainable.”
Mr Evans said the Government needed to oversee its strategies around waste.
“The current New Zealand Waste Strategy 2010 sets no goals, targets, timetables, actions or responsibilities,” he said.
“New Zealand also has very poor data on the amount of material that’s collected for recycling, what the material is and what happens to it.”
Plastic Free July
DURING Plastic Free July, consumers are urged to help send a clear message to producers that poorly designed single-use packaging should be eliminated.
“It’s time New Zealand did better and lived up to our clean and green image.”
Those are the words of WasteMINZ chief executive Paul Evans, who encourages Kiwis to embrace the Plastic Free July campaign, a global movement that calls on people to refuse single-use plastics.
“With the recycling industry in turmoil, it is now more important than ever that Kiwis reduce their consumption of single-use plastic,” he said.
Mr Evans said that last year, the focus of Plastic Free July was to reduce the top four single-use items: plastic shopping bags, water bottles, straws and takeaway coffee cups.
“Since then, pressure from both the public and industry has seen many retailers, including both major supermarket chains committing to go plastic bag free,” he said.
“While we have seen massive improvements over the last year we still have a long way to go.”
Steps that consumers can take to further reduce the day-to-day use of plastics include cutting down on other types of single-use plastic packaging.
“You could switch to soap or shampoo bars instead of using bottled wash products,” Mr Evans said.
The July campaign “is a great time to get creative with how you can reduce your single-use plastic usage and share ideas with others”.