News
Waste Minimisation Bill
The Waste Minimisation Bill puts in place provisions to enable households and businesses to decrease their waste disposal. It includes provision for a levy on industrial waste, sets targets for reducing waste in landfills and cleanfills, provides for producer responsibility programmes, and provides for public procurement programmes to spur the development of markets for products and services that result in waste reduction.
The time is well overdue to establish and implement a long-term national waste minimisation strategy that is part of a far greater issue, that of creating a sustainable nation. If we are serious about waste reduction and becoming a country that is economically and environmentally sustainable then we must accept that major changes need to be made not only in the way that we manage our resources, but in our production, consumption, recovery and disposal practices. It is clear that the current pattern of resource consumption and ‘disposal' in New Zealand is unsustainable and significant changes and leadership is required.
Paper Reclaim supports the intent of the Waste Minimisation Bill and the key principles behind the Bill.
The Waste Minimisation Bill has had its second reading in Parliament on 18 June. This means that MPs have voted for the Bill to proceed further. The Bill is expected to be passed into law by the end of the 2008.
The current version of the Bill is available on http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/member/2008/0043-2/latest/DLM999802.html
Minister Mallard has given a speech to the House about the Bill. You can read the speech on www.beehive.govt.nz/minister/trevor+mallard