Plastic campaigners welcome action on waste today, following an announcement by the Ministry for Environment that it intends to “look into” establishing a bottle deposit scheme.

Kiwi Bottle Drive campaigner Holly Dove says this announcement has been much anticipated.

“Experts in the waste minimisation field have been asking the Ministry for Environment and successive ministers for more than two decades to look into getting a bottle deposit scheme for New Zealand, so we are really pleased to see this government and Minister taking action.”

“Last week Tasmania announced it would introduce a scheme, following the rest of Australia bar Victoria, and last year both Scotland and England decided to introduce a scheme - so it’s fantastic to hear work is being done to look into getting a scheme here too.”

“A bottle refund scheme would mean clean beaches and communities and fundraising opportunities for schools, Scouts and other groups - people and planet both win with bottle deposits and we need the ball to get rolling on this.”

The recycling scheme would see consumers refunded a deposit when they returned drinks containers to be recycled and this would "incentivise" the recovery of quality recyclables from the waste and litter streams, according to the Ministry for Environment.

Alongside the Ministry's work on bottle refunds, Parliament's Environment Select Committee today has also promised to produce a report on refund schemes following a presentation by Dove and other environmental campaigners to the committee two weeks ago.

“Last month we presented to politicians at an Environment Select Committee hearing following the delivery of our petition at the end of last year, which called for an introduction of a scheme," Dove says.

"We're pleased to see our petition, signed by thousands of kiwis and backed by councils, is gaining traction through the select committee process and we look forward to hearing the committee's report back.”

“Our oceans and communities can’t wait any longer for action on harmful plastic pollution,” Dove says.

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