Waste Minimisation Act 2008

The Act encourages a reduction in the amount of waste we generate and dispose of in New Zealand. The aim is to reduce the environmental harm of waste and provide economic, social and cultural benefits for New Zealand.

Full text

Waste Minimisation Act 2008 [New Zealand Legislation website]

How the Act seeks to achieve its aims

To achieve its aims the Act:

  • imposes a levy on all waste disposed of in landfills to generate funding to help local government, communities and businesses minimise waste. 

  • establishes a process for government accreditation of product stewardship schemes which recognises those businesses and organisations that take responsibility for managing the environmental impacts of their products. 

  • requires product stewardship schemes to be developed for certain ‘priority products’ where there is a high risk of environmental harm from the waste or significant benefits from recovering the product. 

  • allows for regulations to be made to control the disposal of products, materials or waste, require take-back services, deposit fees or labelling of products.

  • allows for regulations to be made that make it mandatory for certain groups (eg, landfill facility operators) to report on waste to improve information on waste minimisation.

  • clarifies the roles and responsibilities of territorial authorities with respect to waste minimisation. 

  • establishes the Waste Advisory Board to give independent advice to the Minister for the Environment on waste minimisation issues. 

Provisions of the Act

Provisions of the Act are outlined in the following pages on our website:

  • Waste disposal levy
    What the waste disposal levy is and why we have one, information for waste disposal facility operators and findings from the three-yearly reviews of the effectiveness of the levy.
  • Product stewardship
    What product stewardship is, and how schemes are implemented and managed.
  • Waste Minimisation Fund
    What the fund is, eligibility and assessment criteria and guidance on how to apply.
  • Role of territorial authorities
    Obligations under the Act.
  • The Waste Advisory Board
    An overview of the Waste Advisory Board which provides independent advice to the Minister for the Environment on matters relating to the Act and waste minimisation.

Regulations under the Act

Waste Minimisation (Calculation and Payment of Waste Disposal Levy) Regulations 2009

These regulations cover the calculation and payment of the waste disposal levy.

Waste Minimisation (Microbeads) Regulations 2017

These regulations ban the sale and manufacture of certain products containing plastic microbeads.

For more information, see Plastic microbeads ban.

Waste Minimisation (Plastic Shopping Bags) Regulations 2018

These regulations ban retailers from selling or providing single-use plastic shopping bags to customers.

For more information see Single-use plastic shopping bags are banned in New Zealand.

History of the Waste Minimisation Act

The Act was the result of a Private Members Bill called the Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill [New Zealand Parliament website], introduced to Parliament by the Green Party on 4 May 2006. The Act was passed in September 2008.

Related documents

The following documents were produced before or while the Act went through the Parliamentary process.