What evidence, if any, did she use in her determination that an open-ended timeframe regarding hard-to-recycle plastics would allow for engagement with businesses struggling to find replacements considering industry, like Woolworths, have requested “clarity, certainty and direction”?

Answer

Ministry for the Environment officials, alongside myself, have continued to engage with stakeholders about their readiness for transitioning to new materials. The Waste Minimisation Act (2008) requires the Minister for the Environment to ensure reasonably practicable alternatives to the specified materials are available before making regulations that control the manufacture or sale of a product. The timeframe was not intended to be open-ended but to allow sufficient time for additional consultation with stakeholders to ensure practicable alternatives can be sourced and that any new phase-out timeframe is workable. Product transitions can be complex; for some stakeholders, entirely new machinery or warehouse spaces have been required and their efforts are ongoing.