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Environment New Zealand 2007 questions and answers: Key findings - Waste

Environment New Zealand 2007 publications

What does waste have to do with our environment?

Waste represents an inefficient use of our resources. If we don’t dispose of it carefully, it can also be a risk to human health and the environment.

What are the trends in waste according to the report?

In a nutshell

  • Waste management in New Zealand has continued to improve through strengthened controls on landfills.
  • Good progress has been made in minimising the amount of waste we throw away.  However, many potentially useful materials (such as organic waste, and construction and demolition waste) continue to be disposed of in landfills.
  • More information is needed on some waste flows (e.g. hazardous wastes, wastewater).

Facts and figures

  • The amount of solid waste disposed of to New Zealand landfills annually has stabilised: it was estimated that 3.180 million tonnes of waste was disposed of the landfill in 1995 and 3.156 million tonnes in 2006.
  • When expressed in terms of thousands of tonnes per real dollar of GDP, this represents a 29 per cent decrease.
  • Recycling rates are increasing. In 2006, 73 per cent of New Zealanders had access to kerbside recycling, up from 20 per cent in 1996, and 97 per cent had access to either kerbside recycling or drop-off centres.
  • In 2005, 329,283 tonnes of paper, plastic, card, glass, steel, and aluminium collected through municipal recycling were diverted from being sent to landfills.
  • When commercial waste is included, the total amount of material diverted from landfills is estimated to be about 2.4 million tonnes a year.
  • Fifty per cent of waste disposed to New Zealand landfills and cleanfills are potentially useful materials. These materials include organic (mostly garden and food) waste, timber, and construction and demolition waste.
  • In 2004, it was estimated that solid hazardous waste was estimated to account for 11 per cent of the waste disposed of to landfills. About 25 per cent of this waste is rendered inert before disposal at waste treatment facilities.
  • Three hundred-twenty wastewater treatment plants receive about 1.5 billion litres of domestic waste waster per day. Of the 269 plants for which information is available, most employ primary treatment, 55 per cent employ secondary treatment and another 36 per cent have tertiary treatment.
  • Detailed information is available for 26 municipal treatment plants, which serve nearly 30 per cent of New Zealand’s population. These 26 plants divert an estimated 155,000 tonnes of wet and dry sewage sludge from landfills each year. This diverted sludge is used to reclaim land, as fertiliser for forested land, in pond storage and making compost as well as other uses.

What is the government doing to minimise the impacts of waste on the environment?

A number of initiatives related to the findings of the Waste chapter are underway and under development. Examples include:

How can New Zealanders reduce the pressures of waste on the environment?

Visit www.sustainability.govt.nz to find out how you can reduce the impact of waste on the environment.

You can also visit the websites listed under the question above.

Other questions and answers on key findings

More detailed findings are available for the following sections: