Litter is a global issue and has a significant human impact on the environment. It is especially hazardous because it can enter ecosystems and harm a country's biodiversity. Litter is a prevalent environmental issue in New Zealand.
New Zealanders are known to take pride in their 'clean green' image. A national survey conducted in December 2017 revealed that 99% of respondents considered the maintenance of New Zealand's 'clean green' image to be of importance. For these reasons the prevention of litter is considered to be of national importance. While New Zealand is considered an environmentally conscious country, it continues to encounter litter issues. Plastic items are recorded to be the most littered item in the country. Cigarette butts and plastic bags are some of the most littered item worldwide and are therefore also pervasive in New Zealand's bird wildlife. Plastic litter is a particularly harmful form of litter as it threatens the New Zealand environment and the wildlife that inhabits it. Due to littering, New Zealand's endangered species are at risk of extinction. The National Litter Audit revealed that 80% of the litter found in the country's waterways originated from the land. Plastic litter in particular threatens wildlife because it contaminates the water and therefore poses health risks to marine wildlife and seabirds.
The Keep New Zealand Beautiful organisation was founded in 1967. The 1979 Litter Act established the organisation as the national body responsible for the promotion of litter control in New Zealand. Since 2018, Keep New Zealand Beautiful has released national reports concerning the issue of litter in New Zealand's regions. The National Litter Behaviour Study was released in 2018 and the Litter Audit was released in 2019. These reports have informed a response to litter in New Zealand. Policy measures for litter abatement include fines and a national action plan to reduce plastics. Further strategies for litter abatement include educational programmes and campaigns, most of which are developed by Keep New Zealand Beautiful.
Environmental impact of littering New Zealanders are known to take pride in their 'clean green' image. While it is considered an environmentally conscious country, litter remains an ongoing issue. Following the research released in the 2019 National Litter Audit, chief executive of the Keep New Zealand Beautiful organisation, Heather Saunderson, has stated that litter remains a considerably large environmental issue in New Zealand. Litter is especially hazardous because it can enter ecosystems and harm New Zealand's biodiversity.
Litter in waterways and the ocean The 2019 National Litter Audit revealed that 80% of the litter found in the country's waterways originated from the land. The most common environmental pollutant found in waterways and marine life is plastic. Deliberate littering and illegal dumping are amongst the main contributors to plastic waste in New Zealand. Through the monitoring of beach litter, a 2019 environmental report conducted by the New Zealand charity Sustainable Coastlines and supported by the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand has identified plastic pollution to be the most common form of litter on New Zealand beaches. The Our marine environment 2019 report revealed 61% of litter on beaches to be of a plastic material and 11% of the plastic litter found on the country's beaches came from cigarettes. The second most common item were either glass or ceramic. These made up 21.7% of all items collected. The report revealed that the effect of single-use plastic poses a significant threat on the country's marine life.
Impact of plastic litter on wildlife
An estimated 30% of New Zealand's biodiversity reside in the sea. Of these 90% of seabirds, 80% of shorebirds and 22% of marine mammals are threatened with or at risk of becoming extinct. In addition, almost half of the world's whales, dolphins and porpoises have been recorded in New Zealand waters. Plastic pollution is one of the biggest contributors to the threat of extinction. Microplastics which are less than 5 millimetres in length are particularly dangerous pollutants because they are easily ingested by marine life. For animals on land and in the water, the ingestion of plastic reduces their intake of essential nutrients, traffic their digestive tracts, and negatively affect reproductive behaviour. Plastic materials also easily absorb toxins which, when ingested by larger animals like marine mammals, can cause death. Toxins easily absorbed by plastics include persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals. In addition, plastics are already manufactured with harmful chemicals. For these reasons plastic litter contaminates water and poses a significant health risk to wildlife.
Plastics have been reported in fish, seabirds, and shellfish. Because they resemble food and are ubiquitous in the environment due to issues like littering, microplastics are easily ingested by animals. The prevalence of plastic debris means that marine mammals are at risk of becoming trapped in or wounded by drifting materials. They are also at risk of ingesting plastic debris. The New Zealand Department of Conservation has reported that Māui dolphins, a critically endangered subspecies of the Hector's dolphin, are at risk of dying from marine litter. Māui dolphins are endemic to New Zealand's North Island where they are known to occupy harbours where commercial and amateur fisheries are located.
Research conducted by the Royal Society of New Zealand has shown the country's seabirds to be at risk of consuming plastic with the earliest discovery of plastic ingestion dating back to 1958.Harper, P.C. and J.A. Fowler, Plastic pellets in New Zealand storm-killed prions (Pachyptila spp.). 1987. One-third of all species of seabirds inhabit New Zealand. The country is also the main breeding ground for the highest number of seabird species globally. For these reasons, New Zealand has been described as being the "seabird capital of the world". 86 of the 360 global seabird species breed in New Zealand, 37 are endemic to New Zealand, meaning they breed nowhere else in the world. The prevalence of plastic pollution on New Zealand coasts means seabirds are increasingly at risk of eating plastics. A 2019 report on Plastics and the environment states that New Zealand is:
Forest and Bird, a non-profit conservation organisation, has warned that birds like shearwaters and albatross can not distinguish floating plastic from fish. The pervasive ingestion of plastic seen in New Zealand's seabirds since the first earliest recorded observation in 1958 means plastic pollution is one of the primary reasons why 90% of the country's seabirds are at risk of extinction. Because New Zealand is home to and hosts such a large population of seabirds, the risk of extinction posed by plastics is considered the worst in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world.
Impact of organic litter on birdlife
The environmental impact of litter on land also poses a significant danger to wildlife. The disposal of organic waste like banana peels or sandwich crusts is also a form of littering which threatens native birds. The Department of Conservation states that birds like the kea, a nationally endangered parrot, are known to be curious and playful creatures. Keas are likely to forage for food in areas occupied by humans. In these areas, they are made vulnerable to consuming human food scraps. The Department of Conservation has advised that human food products are unhealthy for a kea's digestive system and temporarily decrease their appetite. As a consequence, keas can become destructive with surrounding human belongings. To protect New Zealand's environment and the native species that inhabit it, visitors to conservation land are required to take their rubbish with them until they can dispose of it responsibly in an appropriate bin.
Legislation
The Litter Act 1979
The Litter Act 1979 is administered by the Ministry for the Environment. The Act defines littering as intentionally or unintentionally depositing of litter. It defines litter as including "any refuse, rubbish, animal remains, glass, metal, garbage, debris, dirt, filth, rubble, ballast, stones, earth, or waste matter, or any other thing of a like nature." The Act established Keep New Zealand Beautiful as the organisation responsible for the promotion of litter control in New Zealand.
Litter Control Officers Section 5 of the Litter Act permits public authorities to appoint Litter Control Officers. Moreover, Section 6 of the Act states that anyone appointed to a particular public office is also conferred the powers and duties of a Litter Control Officer. Such persons include constables, traffic officers, harbourmasters, and national park rangers. Section 7 of the Act states that every appointed Litter Control Officer is authorised to enforce the provisions of the Act. It is within an Officer's powers and duties to intervene in the deposition or attempted deposition of litter in a public place or a private land. They are further authorised to intervene if they witness the deliberate damage or attempted deliberate damage of any litter receptacle in a public place. To support these provisions, a revised version of section 7 additionally references the Offences Act 1981.
Litter Wardens In a similar category as the Litter Control Officers, every public authority has the right to appoint a temporary Litter Warden. Section 8 of the Litter Act states that, unless the conditions of his appointment state otherwise, the Litter Warden is authorised to exercise the same duties as the Litter Control Officers. Within the parameters of their given district, the Litter Warden is conferred the same powers and duties as the Officer. However, unlike Litter Control Officers, Litter Wardens are not permitted to legally intervene if an offence is being committed. This means that they are unable to issue infringement notices.
Public bins Section 9 of the Litter Act states that every person, public authority, and department of State is required to provide and be responsible for the maintenance of bins in public places. Maintenance refers to the regularly emptying of the bin's contents and efficient disposal of those contents. Wherever rubbish is generated and likely to be littered, a reasonable distribution of well-constructed and suitable bins is necessary. The provision of litter receptacles is a mandatory means of enforcing litter control. If a noticeable amount of litter in public areas originates from any particular land or premises, section 9 of the Litter Act states that intervention of the public authority is necessary. To control litter, the public authority must require the occupier of the land or premises to provide and maintain the number of bins necessary for the disposal of litter. If an occupier fails to comply with this request, the public authority may install bins and recover costs from the occupier.
Grants and bylaws Under Section 11 of the Litter Act, local or public authorities are permitted to make grants for the purpose of litter prevention or abatement. Section 11 provides that any local or public authority can make grants to any non-for-profit organisation for the prevention or abatement of litter. Such authorities are permitted to provide monetary support to any anti-litter campaign or scheme.
Section 12 of the Litter Act allows public authorities to make bylaws. It states that a public authority, whether it is acting independently or in collaboration with other public authorities, is permitted to occasionally make bylaws. These bylaws must be in accordance with the Litter Act and function with the purpose of litter control and prevention.
The Litter Amendment Act 2006