Glass Product Stewardship Forum Proposed

A short term producers levy on glass was set up earlier this year. The levy was intended to cover the shortfalls in payments to recyclers created by the collapse of clear glass cullet prices in New Zealand and to seek a more sustainable long term solution .

(see story in Issue 1, below). Contributing companies have paid around $1.5 million into the fund to "top up" the loss of revenue incurred by recycling operators.

On 30 November 2005 the glass levy ceased.

In place of the levy the glass industry is proposing the establishment
of a Glass Product Stewardship Forum. The forum is intended as a
partnership between the glass sector, recycling operators and others,
to develop alternative uses for recycled glass.

Agrecovery Foundation Established to Recover Used Plastic Agrichemical Containers

Richard Kempthorne, Chairman Agrecovery, signs Agrecovery Foundation deed

Efforts towards establishing a nationwide recovery programme for plastic agricultural chemical containers took a major step forward with the formation of the Agrecovery Foundation.

The Agrecovery Foundation is a not for profit charitable trust that will own and govern the Agrecovery programme to recover many of the estimated five million under-30litre agrichemical containers used in New Zealand each year, as well as other on-farm plastics. The Foundation’s trustees met in Wellington on December 16, 2005, to sign the trust deed and progress the contracts and work plan that will see the recovery programme move to implementation.

The product stewardship programme will see brand owners taking responsibility for enabling the collection, recovery and eventual recycling of the mountain of used chemical containers discarded by New Zealand ’s farming and horticultural industries each year.

The New Zealand Agrichemical Education Trust (NZAET) will be the administrator for the Agrecovery Foundation. Implementation tasks and ongoing management of the programme will be delivered by Responsible Resource Recovery Ltd.

For more information dowload the 16 December PRESS RELEASE

	From left to right: Bruce Emerson (Director RRR); Robert Brodnax (Environment Waikato); Nigel Ironside (Ministry for Environment); Richard Kempthorne (Horticulture NZ); Lewis Metcalf (Fonterra); Jack Richardson (Agcarm); Graeme Norton (DIrector RRR); Peter Ensor (NZAET); Chris Ballantyne (Ministry for Environment).
Agrecovery Foundation Trustees and programme managers at the signing of the deed.

Resene Paintwise Product Stewardship Programme Launched

On 1 September 2005, Resene Paints Ltd launched New Zealand's first product stewardship programme for unwanted paint.

3R Group Ltd designed, implemented and is now managing the Paintwise programme on behalf of Resene.

Since 1 September 2005 anyone can take their old paint into one of 10 Resene stores in Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga. Paint collected in stores is transported by specially designed truck where as much as possible of the material is recovered and recycled.

If customers are recycling Resene brand paint, there is no charge. For recycling another brand of paint customers will be charged a small fee.

3R have started to roll out the Paintwise product takeback and recycling system throughout New Zealand on behalf of Resene. Read more about Paintwise.

Since October 2006 this programme has proliferated throughout New Zealand. Click here for an up to date information on Resene PaintWise.

Further Development of New Zealand Policy on Product Stewardship

In July 2005 the Ministry for the Environment released a public discussion document on product stewardship.
Public submissions on the paper were open until 31 August 2005.

“Product Stewardship and Water Efficiency Labelling: New Tools to Reduce Waste” set out the issues arising from
a product stewardship approach in New Zealand and some of the options for implementing such a policy.

The discussion document outlined four options for implementing product stewardship in New Zealand and sought
public input to these options.

The options range from purely voluntary, through to a fully mandated approach to product stewardship. The
Government’s preferred approach is to use a mix of voluntary action and regulation where necessary.

The discussion paper is an important starting point in the development of product stewardship in New Zealand.
Submissions are being assessed by the Ministry for the Environment now. The Ministry intends to develop the
policy more fully before putting the case to Cabinet in the first half of 2006.