MEDIA RELEASE
25 June 2019

A reduction in construction waste going to landfill is a step closer, following the release of a draft specification recognising good environmental practice in waste management and minimisation.

The specification has been developed by the New Zealand Ecolabelling Trust, which administers the Environmental Choice New Zealand (ECNZ) ecolabel on behalf of the Government. Its development was supported by a $35,000 grant from the Auckland Council’s Waste Minimisation and Innovation Fund.

The specification will form the basis of an ECNZ licence to reward those waste-recovery organisations and the generators of construction and demolition waste who demonstrate environmental best-practice.

A Ministry for the Environment survey in 2008 found that 75% of the waste in municipal landfills could have been diverted; the MfE also estimated around 700,000 tonnes of C&D waste ended up in landfills in 2011.

Trust General Manager Francesca Lipscombe says the draft specification will be open for comment till mid-August. It can be viewed and downloaded from the Environmental Choice New Zealand website at https://www.environmentalchoice.org.nz/assets/Specifications/Draft/EC-59-19-C-D-Waste-Services-Proposed-Criteria-002.pdf

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