Waste in New Zealand

In recent years the location of dumps was consolidated and they are now constructed as sanitary landfills to prevent leaching of the contents into water bodies.

Transfer stations, especially in cities, act as a local collection point where the waste is compacted before being transported to the nearest landfill.

In 2009 the Council introduced 140 litre wheelie bins for kerbside collection after which waste volumes began to rise.

The burning of plastic waste was made illegal in recent years due to the release of toxic pollutants.

[5] By 1996 the New Zealand cities of Auckland, Waitakere, North Shore and Lower Hutt had kerbside recycling bins available.

[12] New Zealand is a signatory to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978, commonly known as MARPOL.

New Zealand is also a party to the Basel Convention, which regulates the import and export of hazardous waste including plastic.

Most of the recycling plants are located in Java including Bantargebang, Southeast Asia's biggest open landfill.

[17] In May 2019, New Zealand ratified amended changes to the Basel Convention which introduced a legal framework to ensure more transparency and better regulation in the global plastic trade.

Malaysian environmentalist Lay Peng Pua expressed concern that the increased volume of paper waste would pollute the nearby Langat River, which local residents depended for agriculture and aquaculture purposes.