Coronavirus: Covid-19 could impact how much recycling New Zealand sends to developing nations

The Covid-19 pandemic could reduce how much plastic New Zealand can dump in developing nations, and households are being warned to not expect their plastic to actually be recycled.

International recycling markets have been disrupted by the pandemic, and experts say the country should be dealing with its waste onshore.

Massey University environmental anthropologist Dr Trisia​ Farrelly said during the pandemic fossil fuel prices tanked, reducing demand for recycled plastic, and making buying virgin materials cheaper.

"With Covid-19, people haven't been flying around the world, or using cars as much."

It meant plastic companies worldwide could afford to buy new material, instead of recycled.

Realistically, it was hard to find anywhere in the world to recycle most plastics, she said.

"It's just not feasible any more, there's very few places that can do that effectively."

The Ministry for the Environment says it's aware that Covid-19 has impacted international markets for plastic recycling, but no exports have been cancelled so far.

Demand for recycled material in Indonesia, where New Zealand ships most of its recycling, has dropped to about 30 to 40 per cent of pre-Covid levels, according to the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR).

Most of New Zealand's recyclable material is purchased by markets in South East Asia.

Dropping oil costs aside, worldwide lockdowns caused by Covid-19 have closed some markets.

This month, Waimakariri District Council solid waste manager Kitty Waghorn said the axe would have fallen fairly soon on mixed plastics.

"International markets are getting stricter and fewer, and Covid-19 has really caused issues with lockdowns in other countries closing off our markets to a great extent.''

Only a limited amount of recyclables were being sold.

In response to Covid-19, Auckland Council and many others discouraged households from hoarding plastic waste for recycling.

Much of the plastic sent to developing nations is being dumped, buried and burnt as the demand for recycled products is low. 

A Ministry for the Environment spokeswoman said amounts of "low-value" plastic able to be sent overseas would reduce. 

"Demand for low-value materials (typically plastic types 3, 6 and 7) is not a new problem, although it has been exacerbated by Covid-19." 

Many councils around New Zealand already shun the collection of low-value, hard to recycle plastic.

The consequence may be increased amounts of low-value plastics being dumped in New Zealand landfills.. 

However, the international market for plastic remained a "legitimate" ongoing trade, the Ministry spokeswoman said. 

The lack of demand for low-value plastic was a problem even before Covid-19, she said.

As the pandemic escalated, the Ministry focused support on the immediate needs of the country's swamped waste sector. 

The recycling future may include avoiding hard-to-recycle plastic packaging entirely.

Zero Waste Network chairman Marty Hoffart said it needed "real recycling" - clean and well-sorted materials. 

However, those solutions could be a decade away. A recent report on plastic said it could be 2030 before New Zealand has its own recycling facilities. 

Hoffart said the country's collection and processing of recycling needed to shift to creating high-quality, source separated and uncontaminated recyclables.

The Ministry spokeswoman said it was working to "strengthen New Zealand's recycling system" and invest in onshore recycling facilities. 

New international regulations could prevent unusable, contaminated recycling from New Zealand being dumped in developing countries. 

Currently, most recycling shipped overseas is unregulated - but new requirements under the Basel Convention could place limits on "contaminated" plastic exports.