Product stewardship is about businesses taking responsibility for the products they make, sell and buy so they’re not ending up in landfill. That means designing and making products to last, then putting systems in place to enable them to be reused and recycled when they are worn out.
SBN is leading the Aotearoa Product Stewardship Campaign. It is raising awareness and increasing the number of businesses involved in product stewardship. We’re also encouraging businesses to get their schemes accredited by the Minister for the Environment. The campaign has a dedicated website.
GO TO AOTEAROA PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP WEBSITE
Background
Every year New Zealanders send around 2.5 million tonnes of waste to landfill – that’s over a tonne of rubbish per household.
Our throw-away culture is bad for the environment. It’s costing our country millions of dollars every year. It’s contributing to our carbon emissions and depleting our valuable resources.
Product stewardship is one way of tackling this problem. It starts by asking the question: “What happens to this product at the end of its life?” Burying it or burning it are not good options.
We’re encouraging manufacturers and retailers to service and repair products to extend their life, and to create take back schemes so a product’s valuable materials can be used again and again.
For costumers it means choosing to buy from companies that do this, rather than passing on the problem to you.
Learn more
- Download our product stewardship resource
- Connect with the Ministry for the Environment about accrediting your product stewardship scheme
- Get in touch with us at SBN. Email: james@sustainable.org.nz to get support for establishing or developing product stewardship within your business
Project Partners
Financial support for this project has been received from the Waste Minimisation Fund, which is administered by the Ministry for the Environment.