Hannah Blumhardt, senior associate at Victoria University’s Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, says it’s very disappointing that the scheme has been deferred, and it will see ordinary Kiwis continuing to foot the bill at a higher rate.

“Right now we all pay for this. Councils pick up the tab, so we’re paying for it through rates and rents – and we’re paying more than we would under a container return scheme.”

New Zealand uses 2.5 billion beverage containers a year, with return rates currently at 45%. The rest either goes to landfill or enters the environment. “With the container return scheme 85% at least would have been returned,” Blumhardt says.

Dorte Wray, Zero Waste Network general manager, says the container return scheme would have reduced carbon emissions. “We are seeing the intensification of climate impacts. We need real, practical solutions for emissions reductions right now. One of the easiest things we can do is to implement a return scheme on beverage containers.”

Most of the huge number of beverage containers the country uses every year are made of fossil fuel-based plastics, or with energy-intensive processes such as glass and aluminum, Wray says. “A CRS would create significant CO2 reductions and marked reductions in plastics entering our waterways and oceans.” 

Hipkins introduced the policy change as saving money for everyday New Zealanders, but Blumhardt says this is false. “I think the cost of living argument has been beaten up by the industry because they would have to pay the cost. This has been framed as deferring for the benefit of people, but that’s not really what’s happening.”

Earlier this week an RNZ investigation revealed that a lobbying firm led by the prime minister’s chief of staff Andrew Kirton worked for liquor companies in their fight for major changes to the container return scheme before it was ditched.

The scheme has been in development since 2019 with a trial funded by the Ministry for the Environment.

It was estimated it would lead to recycling an extra 1 billion beverage containers every year, with government cost-benefit analysis also finding that society would be better off financially, with the scheme saving about $1.4 billion over 30 years.

It’s a cost-effective policy, Blumhardt says. “To say that it’s going to increase the cost of living is really problematic. It’s not one of those policies where you spend heaps of money and it benefits the environment but doesn’t benefit people.”

She says New Zealand is lagging behind the rest of the world in waste and resource recovery generally. “But the container return scheme was a turnkey solution.”

The community and resource recovery sector have been campaigning for the scheme for more than 20 years. “We really thought the momentum was picking up, with successful implementation of container return schemes internationally.”

The scheme was earmarked to start in 2025 or 2026. “Continuing with the proposal was just getting all the ducks in a row for implementation in two to three years time, so it seems very strange to stop that.”

Blumhardt is frustrated by the government’s narrative that pits society against the environment. “What the government is trying to achieve by saving costs is marginal, and there’s all this work that has been done already and it’s ready to go.”

The policy has been consistently popular with the public. “Most of the public support an even higher deposit rate.”