Zero Waste: What's the problem?

Environmental risks and harm to human health 

Organic waste accounts for approximately one third of all landfill waste and when decomposing generates methane and leachate within a landfill.

• Methane is known to be a greenhouse gas - diverting organic waste from landfill therefore reduces the generation of methane.
• Leachate is produced when percolating water and other liquids pick up heavy metals and decomposing organic wastes. Uncollected leachate can contaminate groundwater and soil.

Hazardous wastes can persist in the environment and enter the food chain, harming future generations.

Waste incurs substantial economic costs.

"Approximately 93% of the materials we use never end up in saleable products at all but are discarded during the production process; approximately 80% of what we produce is discarded after a single use."

Waste practices have left a legacy of contaminated sites.

• A 1992 study found 7,200 potentially contaminated sites.
• Of those, 716 are landfill sites.
• Approximately 1,580 sites are potentially a high risk to human health and/or the environment.

(Information from ’The New Zealand Waste Strategy, Towards Zero Waste and a Sustainable New Zealand’, Ministry for the Environment, March 2002, www.mfe.govt.nz )