Annual Report 2010 - Plastics New Zealand

Media andCommunicationsThere has been a lot of attention on plasticsin the media this year, with articles onBPA in babies’ bottles, microwaving ofplastics, phthalates and plastic supermarketbags. Many of these have been based onmisinformation and emotive statements. Thecommittee has responded to all the articleswhich it has been aware of and has hadincreasing success at getting our responsesprinted and acknowledged. We have limitedresources and have decided to use a seriesof ‘fact sheets’ which state the known factson each topic with references. These arenow all available on our website for anyoneto use: www.plastics.org.nz/page.asp?section=news+%26+infoThere has beena lot of attentionon plastics thisyear...many articlesbased onmisinformation...Packaging Accord, MassBalance and RecyclingSurveyOn 17th November the Packaging AccordGoverning Board released the final progressreport on the 5 year agreement.The report shows that the recycling targetsset for each packaging material have beenmet or exceeded. Tony Nowell, Chair of theGoverning Board, said:“This is an impressive result given the impactof the recession on commodity pricesparticularly for paper, steel and plastics. Lastyear packaging recovery fell back slightly to58% across all materials however this is inthe context that:• New Zealand packaging productionincreased overall by 1.8%;• Consumption increased by 4% overallwith the exception of steel which hasdeclined;• Recovery increased by 2% with allsectors reporting increased tonnagesexcept for paper; and• Collection of steel, aluminium andplastics has increased with theintroduction of the Auckland MaterialsRecovery Facility.“Trading conditions are tougher than ever.Achieving the targets set during a moreprosperous global economy in 2004 hasrequired an enormous effort by all parties.Since 2004 the total quantity of packagingrecycled increased by 26%, whereasconsumption of packaging increased ata slower pace by 14%. On a per capitabasis the quantity recycled by every NewZealander increased by from 83kg to100kg. In total, New Zealanders would fillabout 22,000 shipping containers with theirrecycling each year.”“Under the voluntary Packaging Accord, NewZealand has achieved a recycling rate whichis on a par with countries such as Sweden,Denmark, UK, Germany and Australia.”From a purely Plastics perspective;24% of plasticpackaging is nowrecycled, exceedingthe Accord target,with post industrialplastic wasterecycling at 99%New Zealanders collected 36,918 tonnes ofplastic packaging, equivalent to 922 million2 litre plastic bottles. This is an increaseof 8914 tonnes and a 32% improvementsince the start of the Accord delivering arecycling rate which is comparable withother countries.Plastic manufacturers sent less than 1% oftheir total plastic waste to landfill. Over 99%of plastic waste was recycled.Plastics New Zealand has collated recyclingdata for 17 years and used an independentconsultant to prepare the final Year 5 survey.Consumption increased by 4.6% (or 6,765tonnes) and the amount of recovered plasticsincreased by 9.3% (or 3,148 tonnes).ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVITYANNUAL REPORT 2010IPLASTICS NEW ZEALAND19