Accredited product stewardship schemes in New Zealand

Under the Waste Minimisation Act the Minister for the Environment has the ability to recognise product stewardship schemes for their efforts. This recognition is known as accreditation.

Some schemes are run by a single company. Other schemes are agreements between several businesses, and sometimes across different types of products.

The following are product stewardship schemes accredited by the Minister for the Environment in New Zealand:


To view progress reports for each accredited product stewardship scheme visit the Product stewardship accredited schemes' progress reports web page.

Holcim Geocycle

Accredited: 15 December 2008 for 7 years


Holcim, through contracted service providers, collect, transport and use the used oil as an alternative fuel source at their cement manufacturing plant in Westport.


Products covered

Scheme scope
Used oil

New Zealand-wide

Used lubricating oil

Collection, transport and use of used oil as an alternative fuel source at the Holcim Cement Plant in Westport.

Scheme Manager – Geocycle (a division of Holcim New Zealand Limited)

Glass Packaging Scheme

Accredited: 3 May 2010 for 7 years


This scheme collects levies from companies that make or import glass containers, fill or sell glass containers in New Zealand.

  • The levies raised are used to fund projects, research, infrastructure and educational programmes to increase the recycling and re-use of glass into either new glass containers or for alternative uses leading to a reduction in waste container glass to landfill.
  • Improvements in the efficiency of the use of glass in packaging are supported and promoted.   
  • The scheme provides annual data on the mass balance of glass used, recovered and recycled in New Zealand as a percentage of estimated glass consumption (glass containers put into the New Zealand market by participating brand-owners plus adjustments to account for the total market).
  • The scheme is funded by members of the Glass Packaging Forum Incorporated who pay levies and are required to meet the requirements of the Forum's constitution.

Products covered

Scheme scope
Glass packaging

New Zealand-wide.

Covers glass bottles and glass containers used for packaging.

Packaging materials which are not glass are not in scope of the accreditation.

The scheme does not include local government, recycling operators and community recycling networks which do not pay a levy to the scheme and fund glass collection and recycling through their own management systems.

Scheme Manager – the Glass Packaging Forum

Plasback

Accredited: 3 May 2010 for 7 years


All material is collected 'on farm' through a "bin and liner system". Once collected, the filled liners are consolidated at hubs around New Zealand before baling and shipping to a plastics recycling plant in China.

At the plant, the agricultural plastics are recycled into plastic resin pellets and reused in new plastic products.


Products covered

Scheme scope

Agricultural plastics (including bale wrap, silage wrap, silage pit covers, twine, animal feed/nutrition and crop bags)

New Zealand-wide

Any brand accepted.

Waste crop packaging products from the agricultural and horticultural markets, namely silage bale wrap plastic and silage pit covers.

Other farm plastic packaging waste accepted includes; feed and fertiliser bags (LDPE and PP), plastic packaging; twines plus vine nets from the viticulture industry.

Net wrap and HDPE plastic containers are currently out of scope of the accreditation.

Scheme Manager – Agpac Limited

Refrigerants Recovery

Accredited: 23 September 2010 for 7 years


To support the international protocols established to protect the environment from the release of synthetic refrigerants, the Trust for the Destruction of Synthetic Refrigerants collects and disposes of (destroys) in an environmentally acceptable way, CFCs, HCFCs, HFCs and any other synthetic refrigerant and mixes containing them which have been used in the refrigeration and air conditioning industries.

Under signed agreements with refrigerant wholesalers, a levy is received on the sale of ozone depleting refrigerants and HFCs/Synthetic Greenhouse Gases.

Destruction is currently through the specialised facilities of Dascem/Coffey Environments in Australia.


Products
covered

Scheme scope
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

New Zealand-wide collection.

Collection and destruction of unwanted synthetic refrigerants, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

Out of scope are natural refrigerants such as Ammonia.

Scheme Manager – the Trust for the Destruction of Synthetic Refrigerants.

Agrecovery Rural Recycling Programme

Accredited: 23 September 2010 for 7 years


Nationwide rural recycling programme managed by the Agrecovery Foundation formed in December 2005.

Non-member brand owner containers and chemicals can be recycled if the end-user pays. The user pay stickers can be purchased online. End-user takes containers to a collection site.  Brand participants to the scheme pay a levy which pays for the recycling costs for their branded products. 

70 permanent collection sites for the agrichemical containers.

A collection event is arranged when enough unwanted chemicals have been registered as ready for collection in a given region.


Products covered

Scheme scope
Agrichemicals and agricultural plastic containers.

New Zealand-wide

Any brand accepted.

Scheme covers:

agrichemicals (including animal health remedies and dairy hygiene products). Target chemicals include POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) as defined in the Stockholm Convention except for those which are primarily fire retardants, or products containing those chemicals.

Agrichemical containers (HDPE plastic)

Polychlorinated biphenyls are out of scope.

Other farm plastic waste is currently out of scope of the accreditation.

Scheme Manager – 3R Group

PaintWise

Accredited: 13 April 2011 for 7 years


The scheme allows Resene customers to responsibly dispose of their unwanted paint and paint packaging at one of 66 locations across New Zealand. Resene PaintWise accepts all brands of paint and paint packaging and finds alternative uses for these waste paint products. These uses include donating good quality paint to community group projects, using waste paint for EchoPaint, used to cover graffiti, replacing virgin material in ‘PaintCrete’ and ‘GlassCrete’, and recycling the paint packaging appropriately. Waste reduction education that encourages customers to responsibly purchase paint is also included in the scheme.

The operating cost of Resene PaintWise are met through a combination of fees paid on every litre of Resene paint sold, and fees paid by customers disposing of non-Resene paint. Any shortfall between operating costs and fee revenue is met by Resene Paints Limited.


Products
covered

Scheme scope
Paint and paint
packaging

New Zealand-wide

Covers paint and paint packaging returned to Resene stores.

Any brand accepted.

Scheme Manager - 3R Group

ROSE NZ (Recovery of Oil Saves the Environment)

Accredited: 28 June 2011 for 7 years


Used oil recovery programme, designed for users, oil producers and regulators to collect, transport, use and dispose of used oil in an environmentally sound manner.

The collected used oil is treated on an as required basis. Treatment requirements are based on the results of testing of the used oil and/or the consent condition requirements of relevant air discharge consents.


Products covered

Scheme scope
Used oil

New Zealand-wide

Used lubricating oil.

The scheme purpose is the regulated and contracted collection of used oil for reuse as an alternative fuel source to diesel, light fuel oil and gas.

Only consented used (waste) oil users, including Holcim NZ ltd, Goodman Fielder Ltd, Carter Holt Harvey Ltd and Fulton Hogan Ltd will consume oil collected under this scheme.

The use of oil as a dust suppressant is out of scope of the accreditation.

Scheme Manager – Fulton Hogan Ltd

See the product stewardship progress and outcomes page for further information on these schemes.

To find out more about how you can apply for accreditation of your product stewardship scheme see Accreditation application process.

The Ministry for the Environment encourages consumers to:

  • support product stewardship schemes when choosing which products to buy or services to use
  • learn about the product stewardship scheme for where and how to safely reuse, recycle or dispose of an end-of-life product to ensure it is treated in an environmentally sound manner

Interface ReEntry Programme

The Interface ReEntry Programme provides a take back service allowing carpet installers and consumers to responsibly dispose of their end of life Interface branded nylon fibre carpet tiles.
Accredited: 23 April 2013 for 7 years.


Products covered

  Scheme scope

Scheme manager

 

PVC Backed Carpet Tiles

New Zealand-wide

Used Interface Branded Carpet Tiles

Carpet tiles are collected from carpet installers and customers at depots in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch

Tiles that can be reused are stored ready to be supplied to future customers, or donated to community groups

PVC backed carpet tiles beyond their usable life are sent back to the original manufacturer in the United States of America, where they are stripped and remanufactured into new carpet tiles.

Scheme manager – INZIDE Commercial Ltd (the New Zealand distributer of Interface Carpet Tiles).

 

The scheme’s progress

The Interface ReEntry scheme is in its first year of accreditation. We look forward to sharing details of the schemes progress after we receive its first annual monitoring report in April 2014.

Find out more

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Last updated: 13 May 2013