Creating a circular economy
The Green Party will take action to eliminate waste and pollution to help tackle climate change and protect nature.
To tackle the climate crisis, protect our forests and oceans, and create healthy communities, we need to think about waste differently.
Successive governments have created a system where corporations can extract resources, make products that are not designed to last or be repaired, and then do nothing as the resulting product is thrown into landfill.
The Green Party has made significant progress to address waste. We banned single-use plastic bags, phased out microbeads in cosmetics, and increased and expanded the waste levy on landfills.
Our plan will accelerate the transition to a circular system by investing in waste reduction and community initiatives, so more materials can be reused, repaired and repurposed.
The time is now for a transformational approach to waste, as part of a healthy, thriving, and low carbon Aotearoa.
Our plan
- Pass legislation enacting measurable and ambitious waste reduction targets, creating a Zero Waste Agency, and requiring tikanga Māori to be given effect in waste management.
- Implement a comprehensive right to repair for consumer products.
- Implement a beverage container return scheme (including glass) at the earliest opportunity with at least a 20-cent deposit.
- Establish mandatory regulated product stewardship schemes, starting with e-waste, batteries, agrichemical containers, plastic packaging, refrigerants and tyres.
- Progressively increase the landfill levy and continue to use the revenue for waste minimisation, including funding for community waste reduction initiatives.
- Improve product labelling with clear standards to ensure people can have confidence in products marked ‘compostable’ and ‘recyclable’.
- Mandate waste reduction targets for the building and construction sector, including waste minimisation plans.