How will the Government’s new recycling plan across the country and will it make recycling less confusing? The Ministry for the Environment’s proposed Transforming Recycling plan includes a 20 cents return scheme for most drink containers, though excludes dairy. It’s one of three key elements in the proposal to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. The other two proposals in the plan are for standardised kerbside recycling collections across all regions and for households and businesses to separate food scraps from general waste.

Roderick Boys, Principal Advisor at the Ministry for the Environment, explains the plan, and we’ll discuss with Sophie Mander, Chair of the Territorial Authorities’ Officers (TAO) Forum, the nationwide body run by Waste Minz – who have submitted to to the proposal and Marty Hoffart, Chair of the Zero Waste Network.