NZ Plans To Invest In More Recycling Plants As It Deals With China Waste Ban

“New Zealand is planning to invest more in recycling plants and set up government-led taskforce to work out how to grapple with the fallout from China’s ban on waste imports, its associate environment minister said on Thursday,” writes Charlotte Greenfield in an article for Reuters.

“The ban has had a greater impact than the industry expected and we need a coordinated response from central and local government, together with the waste and business sectors,” said Eugenie Sage, Associate Minister for the Environment.

“New Zealand had been sending 15 million kgs – worth around NZ$21 million  – a year of waste to China, mostly paper and plastics that were now piling up as waste companies scrambled to divert it to processors in South-East Asia,” reports Greenfield.

With the ban China, the world’s biggest importer of plastic waste, “has upended the world’s waste handling supply chain and caused massive pile-ups of trash from Asia to Europe, as exporters struggled to find new buyers for the garbage.”

“We are also looking at options such as expanding the waste levy to more landfills, improving the data we have on waste including recyclables, and other tools to reduce the environment harm of products such as product stewardship, levies and bans,” said Sage.

Article Source: Reuters, Charlotte Greenfield, June 01, 2018

Image Source: WWF New Zealand