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Problem Plastics To Be Phased Out – Expert Reaction
The government has announced problem plastics and some single-use plastics will be phased out, in three stages, by July 2025.
The outlawed plastics will include hard-to-recycle food and drink packaging and some single-use plastics, such as produce bags, straws, fruit labels, and cutlery, plates and bowls.
New Zealanders toss out an estimated 159 grams of plastic waste per person each day. It’s hoped the new policy will remove more than two billion single-use plastic items each year from our landfills and environment. A $50 million Plastics Innovation Fund is also launched today.
The SMC asked experts to comment on the news. Feel free to use these comments in your reporting or follow up with the contact details provided.
Professor Duncan McGillivray, Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Auckland and Visiting Fellow at the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, comments:
“The decision to ban certain problematic types of plastic from use in New Zealand is a sensible response to our growing awareness of the persistence of plastic waste in the environment. It is becoming clear that as plastic waste naturally degrades it spreads through land, air and especially water, and is extremely difficult to remove or treat especially as it breaks down into the smallest pieces – micro- and nano-plastics.
“We are only at the beginning of understanding the effects of this waste on our sea life and ourselves, but it is clear that so far the only reliable solution is to prevent the release of problematic plastic waste in the first place.
“I am pleased to see that this ban has also included funding to support plastic innovation, enabling us to rethink how we use or recycle plastics. Plastics are miraculous materials that lie at the heart of many modern materials technologies, but not all plastics are equal. New Zealand has an opportunity to develop our global position in reducing harm from plastics while developing expertise the world can call on.”
Conflict of interest statement: “Professor Duncan McGillivray is a Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Auckland whose research group studies the effects of nanoplastics on biological systems. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor.”
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