By July 2025, New Zealand will take bold steps to address the issue of “problem plastics” and phases of multiple single-use plastics, according to a New Zealand government announcement. New Zealand will start using single-use plastic items such as drink straws, cotton buds, single-use production bags, cutters, plates and bowls, straw and fruit labels, as well as recyclable plastics, such as food and beverages made from PVC and polystyrene. .
Despite its green reputation, New Zealand actually produces the highest amount of plastic trash per capita in the world. However, most people in New Zealand have expressed strong support for strong action against plastic pollution in recent years. David Parker, New Zealand’s Environment Minister, said in a statement, “Every day, New Zealanders dump approximately 159 grams of plastic waste per capita, making us the world’s highest waste generator.”
“Coffee cups and wet wipes have strong support for action … Plastic straws are a particular area of concern, and we are committed to phasing them out, but work needs to be done to ensure that what is needed does not have a detrimental effect on them.” “He explained. “These plastics are often wasted in groundwater and pollute our soil, waterways and oceans. Reducing plastic waste will improve our environment and ensure we survive in our clean, green reputation, ”Parker added. Towards the end of 2022, the plastic stage will be taken out in three steps. The first phase, effective in late 2022, will make it easier to ban plastics such as PVC meat trays, polystyrene takeaway packaging, EPS gross packaging, plastics. Drink cotton buds with stirring and plastic stems.
The next step will come in mid-2023 and will ban single-use plastic production bags, plastic tableware (plates / bowls / cutlets), plastic straws and non-compostable production labels. By mid-2025, all other PVC and polystyrene food and beverage packaging will be banned. As part of the initiative, the government has also set up a $50 million fund to explore new ways to reuse and dispose of plastics. A bunch of other countries have recently pledged to move away from plastics in recent years. While many countries wanted to reduce the use of plastic bags, the European Union (EU) took a strong step three years ago with a broad ban on single-use items, effective this year. Canada has also recently taken bold steps to ban plastics by listing single-use plastics as toxic.
