Amy Adams25 July, 2012
- More than 650 tonnes of plastic farm waste
has been recycled nationwide during the
past year thanks to a government-funded
scheme, Environment Minister Amy Adams says.
Under the product stewardship
scheme, Plasback supplies more than 1000
recycling bins to New Zealand farms, and
collects agricultural plastics such as bale
wrap, silage wrap and covers, agrichemical
containers and crop bags.
The waste is recycled
into plastic resin pellets and then reused
in new plastic products.
“Many farmers have been
frustrated by the lack of options for dealing
with plastic farm waste and know that burning
or burying waste is not a sustainable solution,”
Ms Adams says.
“This voluntary scheme
is about getting alongside farmers and providing
an environmentally-friendly alternative.
“Thanks to the agriculture
sector’s commitment, there is now 650 tonnes
of plastic waste that is not being burned
or buried.”
The programme received
$130,000 from the Government’s Waste Minimisation
Fund which supports projects that increase
resource efficiency and decrease the amount
of waste going to landfill.
“Under the Waste Minimisation
Act, as Minister for the Environment, I
have the ability to accredit product stewardship
schemes which meet the criteria for reducing
waste and environmental harm.
“Product stewardship
schemes are an excellent way of getting
all parties involved in the production and
distribution of a product to take responsibility
for its environmental impact at the end
of its life.”
+ More
$1 million Government
boost for recycling projects
Amy Adams19 July, 2012
- Environment Minister Amy Adams has announced
that more than $1 million has been awarded
to 10 projects that will reduce the amount
of rubbish going into landfills, under the
latest round of the Waste Minimisation Fund.
“These projects will
make a significant difference to our environment
by encouraging individuals and businesses
to reduce, reuse and recycle rather than
putting their waste straight into the rubbish,”
Ms Adams says.
Funding recipients include
the Glass Packaging Forum, which will introduce
a public place recycling programme.
The Forum receives $200,000
to install 190 permanent recycling bins
at garage forecourts, shopping malls, retail
outlets and other public buildings around
the country. The bins will be serviced by
the private sector.
CID Resource Recycling
receives $370,000 to create a facility in
Auckland that will sort both treated and
untreated waste wood and process it into
material that can be used as bio fuel.
The Kaikoura Enhancement
Trust will use $52,000 to design and build
a glass-sorting facility, which will turn
about 425 tonnes of glass into glass products
each year.
RVP Resource Group will
receive $67,000 to set up a project that
collects food waste from businesses for
composting, increase public awareness of
the importance of composting and provide
educational resources for schools.
“The grants announced
today are examples of organisations working
with their communities to develop ideas
that will benefit the environment by reducing
waste and recycling,” Ms Adams says.
Waste Minimisation Fund
recipients are:
Organisation: CID Resource
Recycling Limited
Region: Auckland
Funding: $370,000
CID Resource Recovery
Ltd works to divert as much waste as possible
from landfill. Based in Onehunga, the organisation
processes all forms of treated and untreated
wood to create a biofuel.
Organisation: Glass
Packaging Forum
Region: Nationwide
Funding: $200,000
The Glass Packaging
Forum will build on the success of the existing
Love NZ project by extending the Love NZ
public place recycling programme to the
commercial sector. The project will provide
seed funding to install 190 permanent recycling
bins at garage forecourts, shopping malls,
retail outlets and other public buildings
around the country. The bins will be serviced
by the private sector and the project is
supported by local authorities who are keen
to have the commercial sector take responsibility
for waste.
Organisation: Sustainable
Coastlines Charitable Trust
Region: Nationwide
Funding: $110,000
Sustainable Coastlines
Charitable Trust will conduct a pilot study
to determine the effectiveness of a portable
school classroom to encourage students and
communities to dispose of their waste responsibly.
Organisation: 42Collective
Incorporated
Region: Nationwide
Funding: $92,500
42Collective works to
incentivise and promote awareness of the
benefits associated with sustainable business
practice (including waste minimisation)
in New Zealand's hospitality sector. The
award-winning Conscious Consumers programme
is expanding beyond its current focus on
cafes to include restaurants, bars and caterers.
Organisation: RVP Resource
Group Limited
Region: Auckland
Funding: $67,000
RVP Resource Group will
divert food waste from landfill by increasing
public awareness of the benefits of recovering
this resource and offering a commercial
collection service to compost. It will also
develop educational resources to promote
composting to school children.
Organisation: Kaikoura
Enhancement Trust
Region: Canterbury
Funding: $52,000
The Kaikoura Enhancement
Trust will provide a recycling solution
for glass. It will design and build a glass
sorting facility, so that about 425 tonnes
of glass can be recycled into glass products
every year.
Organisation: AgRecovery
Foundation
Region: Nationwide
Funding: $50,000
The Agrecovery Foundation
will work with key stakeholders to find
ways to improve the cost effectiveness,
efficiency and environmentally-sound management
of waste agricultural chemicals and their
containers in New Zealand.
Organisation: OCS Limited
Region: Nationwide
Funding: $45,000
OCS Limited aims to
identify and develop best practice, sustainable
waste and recycling management solutions
for large, high-use facilities (airports,
universities) and develop a tool-kit that
provides benchmarks, guidelines and practical
tools to help them minimise their waste.
Organisation: Flight
Plastics Ltd
Region: Wellington
Funding: $30,000
Flight Plastics will
develop a business model and assess the
economic viability of installing a Wellington
based plant to recycle post-consumer PET
plastic. The study will develop a cost benefit
analysis to recycle PET for re-use in manufacturing
Flight's own plastic packaging products.
Organisation: Xtreme
Waste Incorporated Society
Region: Waikato
Funding: $18,000
Xtreme Waste Incorporated
Society will conduct trials to test and
refine the practical options for organic
waste collections and processing in Whaingaroa.
The trials will be based on the recommendations
of the feasibility study partially funded
by the Waste Minimisation Fund in 2010/11.
+ More
EEZ Bill passes second
reading
Amy Adams18 July, 2012
- A Bill that provides better protection
for New Zealand’s marine environment and
supports our reputation as a safe and clean
environment passed its second reading in
Parliament tonight.
Environment Minister
Amy Adams says the Exclusive Economic Zone
and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects)
Bill will fill an important gap in the environmental
management regime.
“We are now a step closer
to having this legislation in place,” Ms
Adams says.
“New Zealand has one
of the biggest exclusive economic zones
(EEZ) in the world. Together with our continental
shelf, it is an area of ocean that is 20
times the size of our land mass, and up
until now, there has been a lack of environmental
protection for it.
“Environmental organisations
and industries are agreed on the need for
legislation to protect the EEZ. Without
this legislation, the risk of harm to the
environment remains, along with a reputational
risk for New Zealand internationally, and
a lack of certainty for industry regarding
the regulations that will affect their investments.
“New Zealand’s EEZ and
continental shelf hold significant economic
potential and the Government wants to unlock
this potential in an environmentally responsible
way.
”This is not about pitting
the economy against the environment. It
is about balance, and responsible management
of our oceans, which was one of the key
issues New Zealand was successful in gaining
support for at the recent Rio+20 conference
on sustainable development in Brazil.”
Proposed regulations
under the Bill would see exploration, production
and decommissioning for oil and gas and
seabed minerals requiring a marine consent
from the Environmental Protection Authority
(EPA).
“The EPA will make independent
decisions on marine consent applications,
balancing the environment and economy, with
input from the public and iwi.”
