Product stewardship moves responsibility for waste to those involved in the production and supply of the product (and its packaging). It involves those who know the most about the product – the businesses who make and sell it – in designing the solution.

The Waste Minimisation Act 2008 provides a regulatory framework for the establishment of product stewardship for key products. Most product stewardship schemes will be voluntary but mandatory schemes could be required where there is “significant advantage in having a product stewardship scheme, but this is either unlikely to be developed, or an existing voluntary scheme is not effective” (Waste Minimisation in New Zealand: A discussion document from the Ministry for the Environment).

Members of the Forum have all signed written declarations confirming their commitment to the Glass Packaging Forum Constitution and automatically become members of the scheme.

Representatives from local government, recyclers and community groups are part of an expert advisory group to the Forum’s steering group to ensure that decisions with regard to funding and direction are also influenced by those collecting and recycling glass.

This levy is imposed on:

•  Producers of glass and importers of glass – both empty and filled
• Glass fillers in New Zealand
• Retailers of products in glass packaging

The levy is applied at each stage of the packaging cycle i.e. (1) manufacture (2) filling and (3) sales. Each participating company pays a levy based on the weight of glass which they use in product or sell to customers. The levy is used to fund objectives which deliver and improve glass recovery.

Under the legislation the maximum duration for a scheme is seven years. The scheme was first accredited in 2010 and reaccredited in 2017.

The scheme covers:

• The design and specification of glass packaging to minimise use of resources.
• Funding to increase the recovery of glass containers and improve the glass recycling rate by diverting waste container glass from landfill for use in the manufacture of new glass containers or for alternate use
• Consumer awareness and education programmes
• Work to reduce the carbon footprint of glass packaging
• Research into improving the collection of glass and finding alternative uses and specifications for the recovered materials
• A fundamental requirement of any scheme is that it can only include objectives over which it has direct control

3R Group Ltd are the current scheme managers and are responsible for:

• Working with stakeholders to improve outcomes for glass
• Reporting annually on the performance of the scheme and compliance to it
• Reporting recovery and recycling rates; conducting consumer and education awareness programmes; and improving communications with local government and community groups.
• Collating data from members and other stakeholders to demonstrate progress towards reducing the amount of glass waste to landfill as well as optimising recycling options.
• Other operational aspects.