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New Zealand Packaging Accord 2004

Objective

Improving the sustainability of packaging used in New Zealand by:

better partnerships, policies and processes
brand owners and retailers taking the primary responsibility for product stewardship throughout the packaging lifecycle
greater material and energy efficiency in the production, use and recovery of packaging materials
supply chain initiatives that foster markets for sustainably-made packaging, including more use of recovered packaging materials.

Signatories

Principal Parties

For Central Government:
Hon Marian L Hobbs
Minister for the Environment

For Packaging Council of New Zealand (Inc) on behalf of its members:
Brian Slingsby
President

Endorsing Parties

For Recycling Operators of New Zealand:
Peter Thorne
Chair

For Local Government New Zealand:
Basil Morrison
President

Supporting Sectors

For Paper Sector:
William Berry
New Zealand Paperboard Packaging Association (Inc)

For Plastics Sector:
Steve Wilson
Plastics New Zealand

For Steel Sector:
Keith Parker
Steel Can Association of New Zealand

For Glass Sector:
John Webber
Glass Representative

For Aluminium Sector:
Steven Cooper
Aluminium Representative

For Brand Owners & Retailers Sector:
Tony Nowell
Brand Owners & Retailers Representative

Accord foundations

The part packaging plays in our lives

1. Packaged goods contribute hugely to the New Zealand economy. As well, packaging is vital to ensuring the quality, health and safety of goods, in delaying spoilage of perishables, and in branding and marketing.

2. Packaging is also highly visible in the waste stream and in spite of its many consumer benefits, the public strongly supports reducing wasteful use of packaging resources. The packaged goods industry will take more responsibility for the re-use and recycling of packaging so that consumers will be able to play a bigger part in this area.

3. Poorly designed packaging often uses resources inefficiently and burdens consumers and local authorities with unnecessary disposal. Branding, marketing and costs need to be considered alongside environmental and social impacts.

4. The amount of packaging consumed by each New Zealander is growing. Reasons for this include design and marketing, safety/food standards, demographics and lifestyle. We must develop effective ways of reducing this trend and closing the loop for packaging materials. Accord signatories recognise progress made with implementing the Accord needs to be communicated to the community.

Towards a sustainable economy

5. The drive for sustainability has implications for the environmental and social/cultural sectors as well as the economy.

6. Industry, central and local government, consumers and community organisations share responsibility for creating sustainable communities.

Extended producer responsibility

7. Brand owners and retailers choose product design; they and others share responsibility for these products throughout their lifecycle, from raw material selection and production to recovery and disposal.

8. The packaged goods industry is responsible for designing products and ways of making them so as to minimise adverse environmental and social effects.

Policy and regulations

9. Central and local government are responsible for policies and regulations that support sustainable development. This framework must align with existing policy, such as the New Zealand Waste Strategy (2002), the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy (2001), the Growth and Innovation Strategy (2002), the Sustainable Development Programme of Action (2003) and the New Zealand Climate Change Programme.

10. An essential part of the framework for sustainable development is a market that brings the true financial, social, and environmental costs of resource use and disposal to bear on producers, consumers, and waste system users. Central and local government have policy and regulatory opportunities to encourage market signals that will more accurately reflect environmental and social impacts.

11. The Accord on a Strategy to Minimise Packaging Waste (1996-2001) created a basis for measuring quantities of packaging materials consumed and then collected for recycling (mass balance data). It also created a voluntary code of practice for packaging design. The 2004 Accord strengthens that foundation by allowing for effective waste reduction, more involvement on the part of brand owners, importer/retailers and resource recovery sectors, and by moving towards product stewardship.

12. If a voluntary approach does not provide sufficient improvements in reducing packaging waste per New Zealander and encourage product stewardship, Government is prepared to consider doing so by regulation.

Coordination, cooperation, innovation

13. The Packaging Council of New Zealand (PAC.NZ) agrees to coordinate the implementation of the parts of this Accord applying to its members, and to liaise with and report to other signatories. PAC.NZ will report annually to all Accord parties on the progress of the brand owner, retailer and packaging manufacturer sector action plans.

14. Signatories will work together to:

develop better industry training in and practice of sustainable packaging procurement and design
develop effective and efficient collection and recovery programmes to expand secondary uses for packaging waste
support measures to help achieve the targets of the New Zealand Waste Strategy and National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy
promote consumer education and public recognition of achievements.

15. Before making or importing packaging and goods already packaged, brand owners and retailers will apply packaging design codes of practice and cooperate with the resource recovery industry and packaging manufacturers to make the most sustainable choice of packaging materials.

16. Each signatory will report annually to other parties on progress in implementing its sector action plan.

17. Parties agree to meet regularly. Topic-based workshops will be held to give effect to this Accord.

18. Any dispute between parties will be dealt with, in the first instance, at a regular meeting. If the parties cannot agree, formal dispute resolution will be arranged.

Sector action plans

19. This Accord will be implemented through the listed sector action plans. Annual sector action plan reporting will include rating progress against specific targets, generic measures and commitments.

Measures of progress

20. Mass balance data — PAC.NZ will report aggregates annually on behalf of brand owners, retailers and packaging manufacturer groups. Weights of packaging materials consumed and recycled will be collected and presented in formats used since 1994, thus allowing year-by-year comparisons. Reporting methodology will be improved and data will be independently reviewed.

21. Annual estimates of packaging waste to landfill (or other disposal method) per person — by material (paper, plastic, glass, steel, aluminium, composites) and in aggregate, by weight. An eventual reduction in these rates will be one of the important indicators of the Accord’s success.

22. Packaging design and procurement — annual sector action plan reports will document:

packaging design — a drive for sustainability in packaging design by creating and participating in better design industry training programmes, reviewing new and existing packaging against codes of practice, cooperating with the resource recovery sector during packaging design, and dealing with non-compliance with the PAC.NZ Code of Practice
packaging procurement — improving policies and practices by adhering to codes of practice for sustainable packaging procurement and through supply chain initiatives.

23. Developing sustainable markets for reused and recycled packaging materials — closing the loop on waste by developing and fostering sustainable markets for reused and recycled packaging materials. Annual sector action plan reports will document cooperative ventures between industry sectors, identify any barriers to, and any frameworks supporting, sustainable resource efficiency industries in New Zealand, and any results from joint initiatives.

24 Programmes to achieve national targets — the following are 2008 national recycling targets for recovery of packaging materials (by weight as a percentage of consumption):

aluminium — 65 percent
glass — 55 percent
paper — 70 percent
steel — 43 percent
plastic — 23 percent.

All sectors will review these targets and materials within two years of signing the Accord. A plastic shopping bag reduction target, by quantity, will be identified in the Brand Owners and Retailers Sector Action Plan.

25 Consumer information and involvement — ways of informing consumers and involving them in sustainable packaging design and packaging resource recovery programmes must be developed. Consumers must be made more aware of packaging issues and empowered to act on their decisions about packaging purchases, recovery and disposal.

26 Accord promotion — ensuring target sector and consumer audiences know about the Accord and that its issues involve them, as well as ensuring they understand the commitments embodied in sector action plans. It is also important to promote and recognise excellence in environmentally acceptable packaging.

27 In-house waste reduction and resource recovery — promoting in-house waste reduction and resource recovery across sectors and reporting annually on any initiatives.

Accord duration

28 This Accord will stand for five years with an option for renewal subject to parties agreeing and satisfactory annual progress being reported in annual reviews available to the public.

Effect of Accord

29 This Accord establishes a way for signatories to work together to achieve its objectives. It is not intended to create any legal or binding relationships between the parties or to be a legally enforceable document. In no way does it restrict any power or discretion under any statute.

30 This Accord does not apply to the goods contained in the packaging.

Sector Action Plans under the NZ Packaging Accord 2004

Glossary

Brand owners and retailers: Includes producers, brand owners and grocery and general merchandise retailers and wholesalers, as well as importers and their distribution centres.
Closing the loop: Aiming to reuse or recover all packaging materials and no longer accepting waste as a normal part of doing business.
Codes of practice: Examples are: Packaging Council of New Zealand 2002 Code of Practice for the Packaging of Consumer Goods; Australian Council of Recyclers 2001 Recycling Guide for Beverage and Food Manufacturers Marketing in PET Containers;
Extended producer responsibility/ product stewardship/producer responsibility: The principle that those who make products and sell them, the producers, should be responsible for the lifecycle impacts of those products throughout the production process and supply chain, and especially at the point where consumers generate packaging as waste. It is an extension of the well-established policy principle of polluter pays often used in statutory measures and relevant to voluntary industry initiatives.
Supply chain initiatives: Striving to reduce the environmental and social footprint of goods and services used in commercial and government activities by exercising selective purchasing power. Methods include tender documents specifications, cooperative auditing with key suppliers and proactive eco-efficient purchasing.
Sustainable/sustainably/sustainability: “Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (Brundtland, 1986 Our Common Future; accepted by New Zealand Cabinet May 2000).