Sustainable End-of-Life Options for Plastics in New Zealand

5.8 Future Influences on Recovery
5.8.1 More-efficient Resource Use
Increasingly, businesses will use resources more efficiently and reduce the amount of plastic material
used at the beginning of the product life cycle through clever design and light-weighting/downgauging
products. This reduction will mean there will be less material to handle at the end-of-life
stage, which will, in turn, be better for the environment.
More efficient manufacturing practices to reduce scrap and rejects; and manufacturing only what is
necessary will reduce the amount of pre-consumer industrial plastic material, which, now, is 12.7%
of total plastic material recovered.
5.8.2 Increasing Use of Degradable Materials
The introduction of degradable plastics will impact on the recycling system. More information is
needed on how to handle these materials at the end-of-life stage; because of the potential risk of
contamination within the recycling process. As stated earlier in the report, the compostable
degradable plastics will need to be treated separately from the bio/hydro/photo-degradables.
Ultimately composting of totally degradable plastics is likely to become a viable option as more
councils introduce kerbside collections of compostable material. Councils such as the North Shore,
Waitakere, Ashburton, Selwyn and Christchurch are either commissioning plants or undertaking trials.
It will require labelling, education and robust material-handling systems to deter degradable plastics
from entering either the waste or conventional recycling stream.
5.8.3 Evaluating Recycling Technologies
Collection, sorting, handling and reprocessing techniques influence recovery, and new technologies
may need to be introduced; such as sorting machinery, wash-lines and more baling equipment. An
evaluation within the recycling sector of the current plastic recycling technologies and techniques is
needed. Current practices may take place out of habit and convention. For example, exported
compressed material has a higher bulk-density and therefore incurs greater shipping costs compared
to chipped/flaked material. This may be more expensive to reprocess (with the labour and capital cost
of setting up washing facilities) but could be more economic to ship, and more valuable as an endmarket
product.
5.8.4 Legislation
The MfE Product Stewardship Discussion Document was released for comment in July 2005 and
submissions were due in by 31 August 2005. The document proposed voluntary, mandatory and
combined approaches to Product Stewardship (in that all parties involved throughout the life cycle of
a product would share responsibility from product design, to use, recovery and disposal).
The submissions on the discussion document will help to provide direction to central government as
to whether a legislative approach is supported. It is unknown when the review of submissions will be
available. The extent to which any product stewardship legislation/policy might impact upon end-oflife
plastics options remains to be seen.
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