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

Conclusion
Currently recycling is the most sustainable end-of-life option for plastics in NZ. The infrastructure and
facilities for alternative processing options, such as energy recovery and composting (for 100%
degradable plastics), have not been developed commercially, although they may provide alternative
processing options for non-recyclable plastics in the future.
It is important that if and when these alternative end-of-life options are developed, robust materialhandling
procedures are in place to ensure the risk of contamination between recycling and
composting streams is minimised; and whatever cannot be recycled or composted, is either landfilled
or used for energy recovery.
In the meantime, current initiatives such as the Packaging Accord promote the increase of recovery
of material for recycling. To support the plastics sector target of recycling 23% of plastic packaging
material (by weight as a percentage of consumption), information/data needs to be broken down
further by product and plastic-material types. This data can be used by the joint working groups for
beverage, rigid, flexible and expanded polystyrene packaging to prepare recovery action plans.
Obtaining more accurate information on imported plastic packaging in total and by material type
would greatly assist the work of these groups.
While information is important, there is a need to take action in a number of related areas. Better
communication between all parties involved in the life cycle of plastic products is the key to increasing
recovery and reducing waste. In the short term, plastics recovery will be improved by working back
from the end of the product life cycle, for example: by meeting recovery targets, improving collection
procedures and encouraging product users to recycle. In the longer term, the focus will be on
ensuring products are designed with end-of-life recovery in mind, and that more efficient
manufacturing techniques and distribution systems are in place. In addition, improvements in the
recovery infrastructure will be required.
This report has highlighted the areas where Plastics New Zealand can take action, for example
standardisation of products and labelling of resin types. In other areas, Plastics New Zealand needs
to work with all parties involved in the product life cycle to find ways to collect improved information
and increase the recovery of plastics.
In order to increase recovery to achieve targets, and help develop sustainable end-of-life options for
plastics in NZ; there are a number of recommendations to be actioned by Plastics New Zealand, the
wider Plastics Industry and other parties.
41 Sustainable End-of-Life Options for Plastics in New Zealand