Tyrewise is New Zealand’s first first regulated product stewardship scheme for a priority product under the Waste Minimisation Act 2008. As such Tyrewise has been something of a guinea pig when it comes to the workability of the legislation in practice.
We’re is pleased to see that this amendment addresses some of the limitations we have encountered in the current legislation, as we believe product stewardship can be highly effective in improving New Zealand’s record on waste.
After five months of the scheme being fully operational, it has over 4,000 registered participants, has collected in excess of 1.8 million tyres, and paid incentives designed to stimulate the domestic market on more than 12,000 tonnes of tyre derived products and fuel.
Comments on the proposed bill
We agree that the collection of product stewardship fees should be as efficient as possible. For that reason, we support the proposed changes to the Waste Minimisation and the Customs and Excise Acts.
The ability of the Governor-General by Order in Council to specify other persons to be responsible for collecting a product stewardship fee will allow a much more flexible approach to collecting fees for a range of products.
The specific ability to nominate the Chief Executive of the New Zealand Customs Service (NZ Customs) as the entity that will collect and enforce the payment of fees will be much more efficient for collecting tyre stewardship fees on loose tyres (which make up the bulk of tyres entering the New Zealand market). This is because they can be identified by the tariff item they are imported under.
We believe the current system of collection by NZTA Waka Kotahi remains the most efficient way of collecting the tyre stewardship fees for tyres on vehicles imported for on-road use.
In order for Tyrewise to produce mass balance reporting (how many tyres enter the market and what happens to them once they reach end of life), the New Zealand Customs Service will need to continue supplying the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) with information on the volumes of tyres imported, and MfE must be able to release this information to Tyrewise. This is currently enabled by a data sharing agreement between NZ Customs and MfE.
Recommendations
We recommend the amendments in relation to product stewardship be passed into law.
To enable effective product stewardship for a wider range of products, we believe a much broader review pf the Waste Minimisation Act is needed.
We support the intention for new legislation to be drafted, as indicated in the Government’s Waste and Resource Efficiency Strategy, and Waste and Resource Efficiency Work Programme 2024-2026.
Adele Rose
Chief Executive
3R Group, Tyrewise Scheme Manager
