Plastic phase-outs from October 1.

Plastic is one of our greatest environmental challenges and the Ministry for the Environment is addressing this by phasing out hard-to-recycle and single-use plastics.

From October 1 2022, it will be illegal to provide, sell or manufacture certain hard-to-recycle and single use plastic products in Aotearoa New Zealand. These are:

• Single use plastic drink stirrers
• Single use plastic cotton buds
• Plastics with pro-degradant additives (eg. some bin liners, dry cleaning bags and pet waste products)
• PVC food trays and containers used for products including meat, fresh produce or baked goods
• Polystyrene takeaway food and beverage packaging (eg. takeaway containers and cups)
• Expanded polystyrene food and beverage packaging including food serviceware and grocery products (eg. instant noodle containers).

Its these plastics that regularly end up as waste in our landfills, transfer stations, our moana and whenua. Difficult to recycle packaging and products can interfere with our recycling systems and are often used only once before being disposed.