The Government is looking to standardise kerbside recycling collection across the country as it looks to reduce waste going to landfill.
It is also investing $36.7 million in high-tech recycling plants across the country. The technology is able to sort recycling materials automatically, reducing the need for manual sorting.
Plants will be upgraded in Christchurch, Auckland, New Plymouth, Thames, Northland and the Bay of Plenty, with new sites set up in Hamilton and Napier.
Most projects are expected to be completed within five to 10 months.
Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage said New Zealand's current recycling system relied a lot on manual sorting, which was “not pleasant work, especially when people put rubbish in their recycling bin”.
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”Investing in high-tech optical sorters will make for safer workplaces and speed up the sorting process to separate different materials, such as paper and plastics.”
She said some types of plastics were very different to tell apart, even for well-trained staff, but the optical sorting machines can do so in a split-second.
The $36.7m is part of the $124m the Government previously announced it is investing in a number of waste infrastructure initiatives across the country.
“Internationally, the experience is that there are more jobs, and more skilled jobs, in resource recovery than in old-fashioned waste collection and disposal to landfill,” Sage said.
The Government is also looking at standardising kerbside recycling nationwide, based on recommendations from a new report Standardising kerbside collections in Aotearoa.
It also recommends councils are incentivised to collect food waste for composting, collect glass separately to other recyclables, and do more promotion to get people to sort their waste correctly.
