Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage today announced funding to increase E-waste recycling and avoid it ending up in landfills. “Auckland company Mint Innovation use chemistry and microbiology processes to recover valuable metals from electronic waste such as mobile phones and computers.  Mint are conducting a technical feasibility study for deployment of the technology in New Zealand using a $80,000 grant from the Government’s Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF),” Eugenie Sage said. “Tackling E-waste is one of my key priorities as Associate...

  Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage today announced funding to increase E-waste recycling and avoid it ending up in landfills. “Auckland company Mint Innovation use chemistry and microbiology processes to recover valuable metals from electronic waste such as mobile phones and computers.  Mint are conducting a technical feasibility study for deployment of the technology in New Zealand using a $80,000 grant from the Government’s Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF),” Eugenie Sage said. “Tackling E-waste is one of my key priorities as...

Public input will be sought on proposals to enact the Government’s policy of no new mines on conservation land, Conservation Minister, Eugenie Sage announced today. Last November, in her Speech from the Throne, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced there would be no new mines on conservation land. The Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage and Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods, will consult the mining sector, iwi, local government, environmental and community groups, and the wider public, through a discussion document to...

Plastic recycling company Astron is getting $500,000 under the Government’s Waste Minimisation Fund to expand its plastic recycling facility in New Zealand, Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. “The Government is committed to reducing the amount of waste going to landfill or being shipped offshore,” Eugenie Sage said. “Improving our onshore ability to recycle plastics into new, useful products is really important, particularly given the pressures on the recycling export sector with reduced markets and lower prices for exporting...

Recycling just got smarter and brighter with new cleverly designed bins to improve recycling and collection launched by Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage today. In the Wellington CBD Eugenie Sage launched a set of four smart bins, one of 10 sets being rolled out across the city under a pilot initiative, which is part of a $1.7 million grant provided to The Packaging Forum from the Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF). “The new locally made bins stand out from the crowd...

A facility to recycle tyres and a project to reuse old photocopier toner are getting off the ground with support from the Waste Minimisation Fund, Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage said today. “These projects take waste that would have gone to landfills and use it for something useful. They are great examples of what needs to happen more in New Zealand,” Ms Sage said. “Significantly reducing waste going to landfill by 2020 is a goal of the Green Party’s confidence...

Possums, rats and stoats are the big losers in Budget 2018 and our forests, birds and other wildlife the winners, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. “We need to invest in comprehensive predator control in order to save special wildlife like kiwi. We have a biodiversity crisis, where 82 per cent of native birds are threatened with or at risk of extinction,” says Eugenie Sage. An extra $81.3 million in operating funds for predator control over four years is part...

The roll-out of 20 innovative cleaning stations has started as part of the Department of Conservation’s efforts to reduce the spread of kauri dieback, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. Stations will be installed on busy and high-risk DOC managed tracks in the kauri region, including the Kauri Loop track in the Hakarimata Scenic Reserve, near Huntly – the first track to have one of the new cleaning stations installed. Other tracks are in the Kauri Coast and Bay of...

In a world-leading conservation effort, mice have been successfully eradicated from Antipodes Island in the New Zealand Subantarctic, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. Million Dollar Mouse, a joint initiative between the Department of Conservation (DOC) and funding partners the Morgan Foundation, WWF-New Zealand, Island Conservation and public supporters, has successfully delivered one of the most complex island eradication projects ever undertaken.  “This is huge news for conservation both in New Zealand and internationally,” Ms Sage said. “Special plants and...

Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage are accelerating work to improve protection of the nationally endangered Hector’s dolphin, after five were accidentally killed in a fishing net off Banks Peninsula. The dolphins were trapped in a commercial set net about six nautical miles north of Banks Peninsula on 17 February. The fisherman reported the incident to Fisheries Inshore New Zealand (FINZ) and to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). Mr Nash and Ms Sage have identified a...