14 Oct 2008

Recycling up, but falling short of targets

6:44 pm on 14 October 2008

New Zealanders are now recycling 60% of their rubbish, putting the country ahead of the European Union, the United States and Australia.

But a report issued on Tuesday shows some recyclable materials, such as tin cans and plastic bags have yet to reach their targets.

The Packaging Accord was established four years ago to set targets and monitor the amount of recycling.

Its fourth progress report shows annual targets for glass, paper, aluminium and plastic recycling have been exceeded for the first time.

The Packaging Council says recycling is an industry which needs to make money and in recent years, markets for various grades of plastics have opened up in New Zealand and overseas.

The council says a further 69,000 tonnes of packaging has been diverted from landfills since monitoring began.

The fifth and final report of the accord will be released next year.