Tanczos plans to drop red tape from waste bill

Green MP Nandor Tanczos says he will amend legislation requiring organisations to develop waste minimisation plans.

Mr Tanczos' Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill passed its first reading in Parliament last month.

He said his bill would use economic measures to discourage dumping in landfills, encourage recycling and re-use, and make producers factor in the waste generated over the lifetime of their products.

Its provisions include a levy on waste sent for disposal, and the bill would establish a Waste Minimisation Authority.

Mr Tanczos, who has been touring the country during the past two weeks talking to councils and communities about his bill, said yesterday that as a result of these discussions, he planned to make changes.

While he found "widespread support" for his goals, "my discussions with councils, businesses and resource recovery operators over the past fortnight have convinced me that some of them will be better achieved if parts of the bill are revised before it comes back to the House".

In particular, the requirement on every organisation to develop a waste minimisation plan needed to be either removed or significantly amended, he said.

- NZPA