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

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R.4 Work with other parties to: • Develop communication channels between all parties involved in the life cycle of plastic products • Reach a national consensus on what can and cannot be collected in each area • Assess a simple national recyclability index and related labelling system for recyclable and degradable plastics • Liaise with councils as kerbside council contracts come up for renewal to try to increase the amount of material being recovered (e.g. more products, additional product types and products of larger weight) • Encourage brand owners and retailers to recycle plastics – especially high-volume packaging such as shrink and shroud wrap, expanded polystyrene packaging and bags • Develop/support ways to encourage the public to recycle more, for example through kerbside collections and when people are ‘out and about’ / at events • Evaluate current recovery techniques. R.5 Expand End Markets for plastics • Encourage commercial recyclers to find additional and alternative end markets to increase the variety of product and material types being recovered. • Encourage the use of recycled content in plastic products through proactive procurement policies within industry and central and local government and their agencies. 43 Sustainable End-of-Life Options for Plastics in New Zealand
Appendices Appendix 1: Supplementary Data Table Amount of Material Recovered [in Tonnes] for Each of the Main Material Types Year PET HDPE PVC LDPE PP PS EPS Other Total (Incl. Film) 2000 4,772 5,736 2,180 6,569 574 978 0 5,893 26,702 2001 4,982 6,639 2,600 8,956 485 166 1 3,307 27,136 2002 5,919 7,445 2,652 11,095 1,266 343 1 1,469 30,190 2003 6,664 7,540 2,449 10,687 1,246 343 101 3,210 32,240 2004 8,016 8,932 2,412 12,444 1,415 417 218 1,588 35,442 Total 30,353 36,292 12,293 49,751 4,986 2,247 321 15,467 151,710 Table 5: Breakdown of amounts of recovered plastic material from 2000-2004 by material type Appendix 2: Glossary Appendix 2.1 End of Life The end of life is the final stage in the product life cycle where material has been used and disposed of. The material is then available for reprocessing, which will help close the life cycle loop. See Figure 1. Appendix 2.2 Waste ‘Any material, solid, liquid or gas that is unwanted and/or unvalued, and discarded or discharged by its owner’ (Source: Ministry for the Environment, Product Stewardship and Water Efficiency Labelling Discussion Document, 2005) Appendix 2.3 Product Stewardship ’Product Stewardship involves producers, importers, brand owners, retailers, and other parties involved in the life cycle of products accepting responsibility for the environmental impacts of the products throughout their life cycle.’ (Source: Ministry for the Environment, Product Stewardship and Water Efficiency Labelling Discussion Document, 2005) Appendix 2.4 Recyclable and Recoverable These terms have been used interchangeably throughout the report. More specifically, ‘recyclable’ refers to collected material that is able to be recycled, and ‘recoverable’ means material that is able to be recovered for recycling or any alternative end-of-life processing. Appendix 2.5 Free-riders ’“Free-riders” are non-participants who seek to benefit while not complying with the mechanisms or contributing to the costs [associated with the handling of materials at end of life].’ (Source: Ministry for the Environment, Product Stewardship and Water Efficiency Labelling Discussion Document, 2005) Appendices 44
Page 1 and 2: Research Project Report Sustainable
Page 3 and 4: Executive Summary The purpose of th
Page 5 and 6: Acknowledgements Special thanks are
Page 7 and 8: 4.2.5 Measure of Degradability ....
Page 9 and 10: Introduction In 2003 the New Zealan
Page 11 and 12: Results 1. Plastic Material in NZ 1
Page 13 and 14: From the 2005 PNZ Mass Balance Surv
Page 15 and 16: 2. Statistical Analysis of Plastic
Page 17 and 18: 2.3 Breakdown of Recovered Plastic
Page 19 and 20: 2.5 Breakdown of Colours and Produc
Page 21 and 22: 2.5.4 PVC Approximately 2,412t of P
Page 23 and 24: 3. Assessment of the Current NZ Inf
Page 25 and 26: Figure 16: Implementation of kerbsi
Page 27 and 28: Figure 18: Other material recovered
Page 29 and 30: 3.3.3 Forms of End-Market Material
Page 31 and 32: 4.2.4 Cons • The cost of deriving
Page 33 and 34: 4.2.8 Viability of Composting Plast
Page 35 and 36: Strict regulations have been set in
Page 37 and 38: 5. Factors Influencing Recovery 5.1
Page 39 and 40: Commercial recyclers operating unde
Page 41 and 42: 5.9 Key Points Voluntary industry a
Page 43: Recommendations R.1 Improve Informa
Page 47 and 48: Appendix 2.8 Forms of Plastic End-M

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

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