Plans for more onshore waste recycling to be revealed by Government

Thursday, 9 May 2019

The government looks set to unveil moves towards more recycling being carried out in New Zealand.

Recommendations from the National Resource Recovery Taskforce obtained by Stuff, include improving kerbside collections, sorting and reprocessing recyclable waste.

Work on onshore reprocessing began to ramp-up last year after China banned most imports of waste for recycling.

Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage (centre) with Auckland Mayor Phil Goff and Waste Management MD Tom Nickels (l) at the opening of a tyre recycling plant.

Details are expected to be revealed to local government members on Friday afternoon, but are expected to reflect documents released to Stuff under the Official Information Act after being withheld for six months by the associate minister for the environment, Eugenie Sage.

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Sage reconsidered Stuff's November 2018 request for papers on work being done on 'resource recovery on a national scale', only after the intervention of the Ombudsman.

No comment was available ahead of the minister's address to Local Government New Zealand's Metro sector meeting later on Friday.

A Ministry for the Environment briefing paper from October 2018, noted export 'markets for mixed plastics, mixed paper and cardboard have collapsed'.

'A number of smaller operators have been stockpiling predominantly mixed plastics as a commercial response,' said the briefing.

Consultants engaged in mid-2018 by the Ministry for the Environment said there was a significant opportunity to recycle more paper and cardboard onshore.

It said 'fibre' had been the biggest export waste to China, before the country effectively closed the door on importing waste for recycling.

It said local reprocessing could boost revenue for recycling sorters, with a possible 120,000 tonne boost to the amount of paper and cardboard able to be reused.

Paper and cardboard, collectively known as fibre, is the biggest challenge.

'Fibre processing is at capacity and it would take significant capital investment to increase onshore capacity,' said consultants Eunomia.

The ministry briefing said the taskforce recommended investigating more processing plants to support manufacturing from recycled fibre.

The report also recommended investigating new plastic re-processing plants, which it said were more likely than fibre to occur, due to their lower cost, and viable with smaller volumes.

The country's biggest urban councils which collect recycling material, have been urging the minister to move on pursuing greater onshore processing of recyclable material.

The mayors of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch last July called for a feasibility study on processing the 50 per cent of paper and cardboard which had previously been collected and exported.

Their letter said paper and cardboard accounted for nearly half of all kerbside collections in Auckland and Wellington, while in Christchurch the materials made up 41 per cent of collections.

Those three cities have almost completed their own report on the viability of a new fibre processing plant, that would need recycled material from much of the country to be viable.

'We've done the research, and the scoping, and we're keen to get on and work with the practical implementation of onshore processing,' said councillor Penny Hulse, chairwoman of Auckland's Environment and Community committee.

Problems with differing approaches to the collection, and sorting of recyclabes around the country, were highlighted in a study of the current New Zealand market, by consultants Eunomia.

'One of the key issues that has been highlighted with the advent of China's National Sword policy, is the level of contamination in recyclables,' said Eunomia.

Some councils, such as Auckland, collect all recyclables in one bin, meaning broken glass can mix with paper and cardboard, making processing less viable.

Sorting facilities are unevenly spread, with large plants in Auckland and Christchurch accounting for 75 per cent of the country's recycling waste, according to the report.

Taskforce recommendations released to Stuff also included exploring ideas such as 'product stewardship' where the manufacturers of packaging are required to help provide for recycling of their products.