The impact of China's ban on taking many of New Zealand's recyclable materials has spurred the government to set up a taskforce to deal with the impact.
Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage said today in a statement that China's ban had a greater than expected impact.
"We need a coordinated response from central and local government, together with the waste and business sectors," she said.
Fifteen million kilograms of waste materials including mixed recyclables had been sent to China from New Zealand each year, prior to the ban.
"The ban has had deeper impacts than anticipated and the recycling sector is facing rising pressure from the significant drop in global commodity prices," Ms Sage said.
"It is clear that this situation is not sustainable."
"Several small stockpiles of recyclable materials have been building around the country, where smaller operators don’t have ready access to alternative markets," Ms Sage said.
She said the government is currently using funds from the waste levy to invest in projects such as onshore recycling plants.
"We are also looking at options such as expanding the waste levy to more landfills, improving the data we have on waste including recyclables, and other tools to reduce the environment harm of products such as product stewardship, levies and bans."
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