15 Mar 2018

NZ urges global efforts to curb plastic waste in the Pacific

5:27 pm on 15 March 2018

New Zealand's Foreign Minister is urging global efforts to curb the inundation of plastic waste in the Pacific.

The uninhabited Henderson Island in the South Pacific.

Photo: Jennifer Lavers

Winston Peters said the lack of adequate waste management systems was sorely evident throughout the Pacific.

New Zealand's government recently joined the UN-led CleanSeas campaign which aims to rid the seas of plastic waste.

According to Mr Peters, it's important to reduce the amount of damaging waste in the Pacific arising frmo New Zealand's use of plastic.

"We have to...back home here.. begin to ensure that the damage that plastic does is not as a consequence of our careless use of it, or failure to treat it properly in our country."

He said his government was looking to assist Pacific Island countries with better waste management systems.

"We could use best practice, best knowledge, best industrial advances to help these populations out. And that is the reason why we want other nations around the world to join so we don't carry the can exclusively, in terms of our foreign aid, a whole lot of other countries do as well.

"Because the products the plastic is coming in is not our product, it's frequently a product from some other part of the world."

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