Press release May 12 2009

The Get real campaign to get packaging waste taken more seriously is hitting its stride.

A coalition of 46 community, environmental, business and sustainability organisations have come together to call for Hon Dr Nick Smith, Minister for the Environment to use the implementation of the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 to drive real change.

 “Consumers and communities are the missing voices in the packaging debate.  We get told that because we can choose what packaging to buy, we should be paying for it to be collected and processed once it has done it’s job” said Getreal campaigner Ivy Wilmott “but it can be pretty hard for people to figure out what the best options are.”

“All sorts of wild claims get made about which packaging is best, and the recycling we do doesn’t always seem to have the greatest end result.”

 A recent UK study found that 38% of packaging in an average shopping basket was not easy to recycle and that while packaging has got lighter over time the proportion that is not recyclable hasn’t changed.

The GetReal campaign team is on the road with the Wild OATS (orchestral anti-absurd packaging travelling show) group raising awareness about packaging as a waste issue that can be solved through effective product stewardship.

“People in every town we have visited have been keen to talk with us about the kinds of packaging they want to see gone from the shelves” said GetReal Campaigner Angus Ho “We have been gathering up some great examples of absurd packaging.”

“Quite a few different groups have joined up as supporters of our campaign along the way.” said Angus Ho

“Like us, they all want to see change in the way our society produces and consumes. We read about the changes being made by big companies like Zespri and Ricoh who are starting to do the right thing but most of the packaging on our shelves hasn’t changed yet.”

 “The implementation of any legislation is tricky because that’s where the tough decisions get made about who makes money and who pays.” said Angus Ho “at the moment there are a lot of costs being left out of the equation.”

“Product stewardship could create a framework that makes a real difference to how we deal with all the stuff we consume. None of us can make it work on our own, that’s why so many different groups have come together to call for change.”

GetReal are focusing on packaging as a perfect example of a waste problem that could be solved by effective product stewardship. The main issues with packaging are over-packaging of some products, confusing labelling making it hard for consumers to make good choices and a lot of packaging that is impractical to recycle. There are few incentives for the different people along the chain to work together to get the best outcome possible.

Submissions to the Ministry for the Environment on the implementation phase of the Act close on 15 May 2009. GetReal is encouraging people to sign up at www.getreal.org.nz to show support for the campaign, to talk to their local MP about the issues so they know what the public think and to put in a submission if they have specific points to make.

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