Packaging big culprit in landfill

More than three-quarters of New Zealand's plastic packaging ends up at the landfill, new research shows.

However, Christchurch's new three-bin system has boosted plastics recycling in the city, the Sustainable Initiatives Fund Trust (Sift) study finds.

While householders account for up to 36 per cent of recycled plastics, it is businesses that use the most plastic packaging.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker believes diverting more plastic waste from the dump is "an absolute necessity".

He supported a recommendation by the Christchurch-based trust that a working group be set up to deal with plastic-packaging waste.

"In my view, it is an absolute necessity," he said.

"Right now we're making significant inroads into recycling from households, but one of the gaps across the country is in the commercial and industrial area."

Packaging Council executive director Paul Curtis said he would support any move to find alternative uses for plastic, other than sending it to landfill.

"We need to do more in New Zealand to encourage local recycling and we can only do that by everybody getting round the table together," he said.

Figures from the Packaging Council showed New Zealanders used 154,381 tonnes of plastic packaging last year, but recycled just 24 per cent of that amount.

Packaging use rose almost 7000 tonnes from 2007, yet recycling only increased by slightly more than 3000 tonnes.

Sift chief executive Linda Norris said the recycling rate was not good enough.

"Far too much is being dumped," she said.

"Our consumption of plastics continues to grow every year, and so does our recycling, but surely we can do a lot better."

The Waste Minimisation Act's "producer responsibility" provisions should be used to force businesses to deal with plastic-packaging waste, she said.

Sift's research showed half of all packaging for domestic consumption was imported.

This could create a problem with plastics because some imported packaging has no polymer code or has a symbol that is meaningless for New Zealand recyclers.

The study said more than 25 million meat and vegetable expanded-polystyrene trays went into landfill each year.

However, there was no way of recycling the trays.

A competition run as part of the Sift research sought innovative ways to deal with the trays.

The winner of the commercial contest suggested the expanded-polystyrene trays be used for building materials or insulation.

- © Fairfax NZ News