The Government has declared six priority products for product stewardship under the Waste Minimisation Act 2008. This is part of a wider plan to reduce the number of materials ending up in landfills or polluting the environment.
Priority product stewardship is when regulations may be used to:
In July 2020, the Government announced six products to be declared ‘priority products’ for the establishment of product stewardship schemes under the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (WMA).
The products are:
This announcement followed public consultation held in 2019.
Government to regulate environmentally harmful plastic packaging, tyres, e-waste [Beehive website]
Declaration of Priority Products Notice 2020 [New Zealand Gazette website]
To declare a priority product the Minister must be satisfied that:
Declaration of ‘priority product’ under the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 creates an obligation and opportunity:
an option becomes available to prohibit the sale of a priority product except in accordance with the accredited scheme (section 22(1)(a)). This means that participation in an accredited scheme is mandatory. This reduces 'free-rider' issues commonly experienced by voluntary accredited schemes.
Declaration of Priority Products Notice 2020 [New Zealand Gazette website]
General guidelines for Product Stewardship Schemes for Priority Products Notice 2020 [New Zealand Gazette website]
Regulations to support product stewardship for tyres were approved by Government and both tranches are now in force.
From 1 March 2024, tyres must be sold in accordance with the accredited tyre scheme.
To fund the scheme, a tyre stewardship fee is collected on all regulated tyres when they enter the New Zealand market.
From 1 September 2024, the scheme began full operations.
Scheme participants receive payments for the services they provide that involve end-of-life tyre movements, such as for the take-back service (eg, collection and transportation).
Incentive payments are available to support the recovery of raw materials found in end-of-life tyres.
Find out more about how this might affect you:
More information on the Waste Minimisation (Tyres) Regulations 2023 [NZ Legislation website]
Visit the Tyrewise website to learn more about how the scheme works.
We consulted on proposed regulations to support product stewardship schemes for large batteries, along with tyres, in late 2021.
See the Battery Industry Group website for more information on the co-design process.
Due to the complex nature of this product category and industry changes since the public consultation, further work is required prior to obtaining decisions from Cabinet on regulations for large batteries.
Cool-Safe is the accredited product stewardship scheme for refrigerants.
The Government has approved the drafting of regulations that will support product stewardship for refrigerants.
Once these regulations come into effect, synthetic refrigerants and equipment must be sold in accordance with the accredited scheme.
This scheme will require the refrigerants sector to report data to Cool-Safe to allow synthetic refrigerants to be tracked across their life cycle.
Under the scheme, the sale and recovery of synthetic refrigerants and heating and cooling equipment containing synthetic refrigerants will be restricted to those who meet industry recognised training standards. These training requirements are proposed to come into effect three years after the regulations are introduced.
For further information:
The Agrecovery Foundation led the co-design process for farm plastics and agrichemicals (farm waste). The Green-farms Product Stewardship Scheme was accredited in 2023.
Visit the Agrecovery website for more information on the Green-farms scheme.
Subject to Cabinet approval, we plan to consult on regulations to support farm wastes in the first half of 2025.
TechCollect NZ has led the co-design process for an e-waste product stewardship scheme.
In June 2023, TechCollect NZ published recommendations for Aotearoa New Zealand’s e-product stewardship scheme.
See TechCollect NZ for further information.
Due to the complex nature of this product category, further work is required prior to consulting on proposed regulations for e-waste.
The Packaging Forum and New Zealand Food and Grocery Council are leading the two-year co-design process on plastic packaging. Timings for accreditation and consultation on regulations to support the scheme will depend on the outcomes of the co-design process.
For further information, see the Plastic Packaging Product Stewardship website.
Under the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (section 23), there are a range of regulations that may be placed on products (whether or not they have been declared as priority products).
These include the following: