Progress made towards clearing New Zealand of POPs and other intractable agrichemicals

New Zealand collections of intractable agrichemicals prior to 2003

Under the Local Government Act 2002, territorial local authorities are responsible for waste and waste management. Under the Resource Management Act 1991, territorial local authorities and regional councils have the function of controlling the use of land to prevent or mitigate adverse effects from the storage, use and disposal of hazardous substances. Some councils have been proactive and have taken a lead in dealing with hazardous waste (including intractable agrichemicals).

The most significant collection and disposal of intractable agrichemicals occurred between 1997 and 1999, when a consortium of seven councils worked together to ship 120 tonnes of intractable agrichemicals overseas. Since then, some regions have maintained ongoing collections, while others have run less frequent collections. Some collections were sponsored by the Ministry for the Environment’s Sustainable Management Fund, but most were funded by local government.

2003–2005 rural agricultural chemical collection programme

The Ministry for the Environment has been partnering with regional councils to provide a three–year, comprehensive rural agricultural chemical collection programme since 2003. This programme has involved 13 regional councils or unitary authorities. By June 2006 this programme will have collected approximately 290 tonnes of material, of which approximately 225 tonnes is intractable material.

The partnership with councils has also provided more reliable information on the remaining amount of intractable material in New Zealand. This information has been used to calculate the updated estimate of intractable agrichemicals remaining in New Zealand.

Appendix One outlines the results for individual regions and provides a brief commentary on each of their achievements.

Urban collections and disposal of agrichemical POPs and intractable materials

In urban centres, agrichemical POPs and other intractable material are collected – along with other hazardous materials – in the HazMobile collections. The HazMobile is New Zealand’s first mobile household hazardous waste collection service. It is a free service for householders provided by councils, mainly in the Auckland region. The HazMobile visits various sites throughout New Zealand several times a year so that householders can safely dispose of their hazardous wastes – old paints, waste oil, batteries and household and agrichemical POPs and intractable material. In addition, a number of local authorities have drop–off points for agrichemicals.