Trashing Waste

unlocking the wasted potential of New Zealand’s Waste Minimisation Act

Authors

  • Hannnah Blumhardt

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26686/pq.v14i4.6545

Keywords:

waste, Waste Minimisation Act, circular economy, recycling

Abstract

Ten years on from the enactment of the Waste Minimisation Act 2008, New Zealand’s waste policy remains sorely neglected. Successive governments have left the act largely unimplemented, allowing market failures, path dependence and fragmentation to deepen throughout New Zealand’s waste and recycling system. In 2017 a new minister assumed the waste portfolio, declaring an intention to use the Waste Minimisation Act to reverse New Zealand’s ‘rubbish record on waste’. This article outlines a range of policy solutions available to the government, analyses why these policy tools have been underutilised to date, and proffers a roadmap for overcoming the identified obstacles.

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Published

2020-03-13

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 4 (2018): Policy Quarterly November 2018

Section

Articles

License

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