The New Zealand Product Stewardship Council is delighted by today’s announcement that the Government is proposing a beverage container return scheme for New Zealand.

“It’s taken more than two decades of campaigning and advocacy, especially from those in the community recycling sector, to reach this point” says Hannah Blumhardt, Coordinator of the New Zealand Product Stewardship Council.

“We thank the Minister David Parker for taking this move today, and to the previous Minister, Eugenie Sage, for getting the work started.

A comprehensive, well-designed beverage container return scheme is a classic example of product stewardship that will help to make New Zealand’s transition to a circular economy fairer and more successful. A circular economy reduces waste and emissions by keeping products and resources in use for as long as possible through reuse and high quality recycling.

“Overseas, putting a redeemable deposit on all beverages at the point of purchase has been shown, time and again, to push container return rates as high as 90%. Getting the deposit back is a strong motivator to return bottles, cans and cartons, rather than stuffing them in rubbish bins or leaving them on the side of the road” says Blumhardt.

Without a deposit incentive, New Zealand’s beverage container return rates are currently just 45%. The remaining 55%—that’s 1.7 billion containers—are littered and landfilled each year.

“We are pleased to see that the proposed deposit is set at an appropriate level of 20 cents. Anything lower would not create a strong enough incentive. Some countries have gone for even higher deposits of 30-40cents, and it does translate into higher return rates.”

A beverage container return scheme also needs to be comprehensive, without excluding certain drinks and materials.

“We are pleased that the Government proposes to include most container material types, including plastic, glass, metals and cartons. However, we are disappointed that milk will be exempt from the scheme. This will result in national return rates of milk bottles remaining low.”

“Regardless of current household return rates, the hospitality industry and other workplaces are major users of milk that lack the recycling services that households have. Waste audits of these industries consistently show low recycling rates of drinks containers, including milk bottles.”

“Exemptions poke holes in the scheme and make it unfair. The dairy industry will get a free ride that no other beverage producer gets. Exempting milk containers from the scheme also means that the costs of collecting, handling and processing these bottles will continue to be paid for by ratepayers rather than industry.”

In a container return scheme, beverage producers contribute a small fee to cover the costs of collecting, transporting and processing eligible drinks containers, which is critical to the sustainability of the whole system.

“This is what makes these schemes fair. Until this point, councils and ratepayers have been picking up the tab to clean up after the beverage industry.”

“The small ‘scheme fee’ will generate a reliable funding stream for reuse and recycling activities. Giving a major boost to community recycling centres and national resource recovery networks, as well as other community groups that wish to set up to process containers.”

A well-designed scheme should also set its sights beyond recycling towards more reuse.

“Good refillables systems have a far lower waste and carbon footprint. In New Zealand, the Associated Bottlers Co “Swappa Crate” system has been running for over 100 years and saved millions of single-use bottles from ever being created.

“We’re now seeing more innovation in New Zealand, with reusable packaging options for milk, beer, soft drinks and wine. However, we need to see much more of this.”

“We’re pleased to see that the Government’s proposal acknowledges the need for future-proofing provisions in the scheme as reusable packaging grows. We will be pushing the Government to include regulatory tools at the scheme’s outset, to help level the playing field between single-use and reuse, and really accelerate the uptake of reusable packaging.”

The consultation also includes important proposals about the scheme financial model, what the returns network will look like, and how the scheme will be managed. The New Zealand Product Stewardship Council will continue to review the consultation document and prepare to give detailed feedback to the Government.

“We encourage New Zealanders to make a submission in support of a comprehensive, well-designed beverage container return scheme for Aotearoa.”

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