13 August 2004

Packaging Accord Wishful Thinking

New Zealand First says that the voluntary packaging accord announced this week is pie in the sky stuff and not grounded in the real world.

“Packaging is part and parcel of the consumer-driven world that we live in. The disposal of that packaging and other waste is something that needs to be tackled in a realistic way,” said environment spokesperson Jim Peters.

“A voluntary agreement signed by some major players in the industry is a long way from anything more than a band-aid solution to the problem.

“Marian Hobbs said as much in the House this week when she agreed that it was wishful thinking to hope that a voluntary accord will be more cost-effective for business than legislation. If it proves to be a cost for business, then they will look at ways to reduce that cost. That’s what businesses do.

“The most pragmatic way to encourage businesses, organisations and individuals to reduce waste is to create an incentive system. The Government would do well to look at the South Australian model, which operates a deposit scheme for plastic, glass, steel and aluminium containers.

“The accord that this Government has come up with is too piecemeal to be effective. The threat of legislation after five years of monitoring is equally futile. I challenge the Environment Minister to prove me wrong,” said Mr Peters.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>