New Zealand's "litter problem" has worsened in recent years and shows immediate action must be taken, a new report has found.
On Wednesday morning, Keep New Zealand Beautiful announced its 2022 National Litter Audit results which outlined how the country's rubbish volume output has changed.
Since 2019, when the last audit was completed, New Zealand's litter problem has got worse with the total number of items, volume, and weight of rubbish at a national level all increasing.
Heather Saunderson, CEO of Keep New Zealand Beautiful, said the results of the 2022 report are "surprising and alarming".
"The audit results really speak to the fiction of New Zealand's clean green image and illustrate the need for government, industry and Kiwis to take immediate action."
"The 2019 NLA provided a baseline for litter intelligence in New Zealand, painting a picture of how litter impacts our communities. The 2022 results serve to highlight that the need for educational and behaviour-change programmes, when it comes to litter in New Zealand, is more important and urgent than ever."
In terms of the number of items found, plastic was the most prevalent main material type nationally in 2022, with a 72.4 percent increase since 2019. And while there was a drop in the number of cigarette butts found in 2022, they remained the most frequently identified material subcategory.
However, medical waste such as COVID-19 test kits, masks, and disposable gloves didn't feature prominently, despite all the protocols linked to the pandemic.
Glass beer bottles were the leading material subcategory for national litter weight in any single main material type. But construction waste, which is a subcategory across multiple material types, was the largest contributor to litter weight overall, contributing 0.11kg of waste per 1000m2.
The estimated volume of paper and cardboard increased sevenfold, and cardboard boxes specifically contributed most significantly to this increase.
Much of the increase in estimated volume was to do with illegal dumping, with 4.45 litres per 1000m2 found in 2022 compared with 1.31 litres in 2019, the report said.
The amount of branded litter was also tracked, and Keep New Zealand Beautiful found that snack wrappers and packets overtook alcoholic beverage containers and packaging as the top industry category of branded litter in 2022. An unnamed "leading fast-food brand" accounted for 5.03 percent of all branded litter items recorded.
Saunderson said this year's audit is an extensive piece of research that is critical for New Zealand.
"The importance of the NLA [National Litter Audit] for both land and ocean litter management are immense," she said.
"The findings will help inform national and local policy development, guide industry strategies and enable Keep New Zealand Beautiful to identify the originators and activities that generate land and marine litter, and to guide our efforts accordingly."
