Funding awarded for research to tackle plastics waste
19 July 2019
Just over $480,000 of funding from the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund has been allocated to Scion for three research projects into plastic waste reduction. The new initiatives were announced at Scion yesterday by the Associate Minister for the Environment Minister Eugiene Sage.
One of the projects is developing a national plastics roadmap to guide the entire plastics sector move to a new plastics economy based on the circular bioeconomy model. The roadmap will be following the footsteps of The Ellen MacArthur Foundation by developing a New Zealand strategy and recommendations towards a ‘New Plastics Economy’ incorporating our country’s specific challenges and opportunities.
Another project is a practical study of how compostable materials degrade in a range of different New Zealand domestic composting facilities to inform practice and policy making.
Fruit and vegetable labels create around 200 tonnes of plastic waste per year. Scion also received funding to create solutions to divert horticultural product labelling waste from landfill. The outcomes of this project will be transferable to other industries, like food and beverages, that produce even larger volumes of labelling waste.
More support to reduce the impact of plastics
Plastics - a circular economy approach
