Litter in New Zealand

The Litter Act of 1979 was administered on November 2 by the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment.

The Act defines littering as intentionally or unintentionally depositing of litter.[3] It defines litter as including "any refuse, rubbish, animal remains, glass, metal, garbage, debris, dirt, filth, rubble, ballast, stones, earth, or waste matter, or any other thing of a like nature."[3]

The 1979 Litter Act established Keep New Zealand Beautiful as the organisation responsible for litter control in New Zealand.[4]

Under Section 11 of the Litter Act, it states that local or public authorities are permitted to make grants under the condition that they are made for the purpose of litter prevention or abatement.[5] Section 11 outlines that any local or public authority can make grants to any non-for-profit organisation for the prevention or abatement of litter. Such authorities are permitted to provide monetary support to any anti-litter campaign or scheme.[5]

The aim of the Litter Behaviour research project was to measure and evaluate litter behaviour through fieldwork undertaken across New Zealand. According to the document, Keep New Zealand Beautiful commissioned Sunshine Yates Consulting Limited to achieve a precedent for future litter prevention activities.[7] Keep New Zealand Beautiful requested that the project inform future initiatives and interventions for litter abatement in New Zealand.[7] By conducting self-reports and through the collection of observational data, the report also aims to establish a Disposal Behaviour Index (DBI) for each major region.[8]

Fieldwork was covered throughout the North Island and South Island of New Zealand. Research was primarily conducted in the Greater Auckland region, Wellington region and the Canterbury region.[9] The study used a multi-method approach.[7] It involved both an observational approach to disposal behaviour and surveys with members of the public.[10] The Observational Approach (OA) is a method used to record details of disposal behaviour as it happens.[11] According to the research report, the aim of OA was to “provide a systematic and direct method of measuring behaviour in the actual context in which it occurs.” [11]

The research was conducted by Keep New Zealand Beautiful volunteers. All the volunteers were trained in ethnographic data gathering techniques.[11] After observing an act of disposal, observers directed an interviewer to conduct a self-report. Fieldwork commenced on 23 November and finished on 13 December 2017.[12] Observations were made during daylight hours only between 7am and 6pm.[12] Speciality sites which were not available in every region included beaches.[12] Core sites included:

• Parks

• Markets    
• Waterfronts
• Public buildings
• Shopping streets
• Public Squares[12]

According to the Executive Summary of the National Litter Behaviour Research document, New Zealand has a litter rate of 16%.[9] This means that the observational study of littering in public areas showed that 84% did not litter and disposed of their items responsibly.[9] Results revealed that the National Deposit Behaviour Index score of New Zealand is 6 and therefore high.[13] The Deposit Behaviour Index operates on a scale from 1 to 7.[14] The score 1 equals a low level of responsible rubbish disposable and indicates a high prevalence of littering.[14] The score 7 is the "peak" score.[14] 7 equals minimal littering and a high prevalence of people disposing of their rubbish in bins.[14] In addition, the report reveals that the Regional Disposal Behaviour Index score in Wellington is 7 and in Auckland and Canterbury it is 6.

Observational data revealed that the most littered items were cigarette butts. Nationally, 78% of litter acts were of cigarette butts.[15] Instances of cigarette butt disposal observed during the project recorded 57% of cigarette butts littered while 43% were disposed of in bins.[15]

National surveys revealed that 75% of respondents considered it extremely important that people do not litter in the area where they were interviewed.[16] A further 18% of respondents considered it very important.[16] The remaining 7% of respondents considered it moderately or slightly important.[16]

The age and gender of people who were observed littering and subsequently agreed to be interviewed varied. The observational data collected in the Litter Behaviour Study revealed that 53% of people littering were male.[17] In addition, people aged between 25 and 34 made up a quarter of the overall people observed littering.[17]

The survey data further revealed that 66% of the people who self-reported having littered were either in full or part-time employment.[18] In addition, the study concluded that the likelihood of a person littering did not appear dependent on their level of education. [18]

Under the Offences and Penalties section of the 1979 Litter Act, anyone who deposits of litter in or on a public place or on private land without the occupier’s consent can be fined.[28] The fines for rubbish dumping and littering in Auckland and Wellington range from 100 NZ dollars to 400 NZ dollars.[29] [30]

Keep New Zealand Beautiful logo.

The most recognised anti-litter organisation in New Zealand is the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Council.[31] The Keep New Zealand Beautiful Council is a not-for-profit charitable organisation which was originally established by the Government in 1967. The Council was established with the purpose of combatting litter in New Zealand. In 1979, Keep New Zealand Beautiful became an Incorporated Society and was officially recognised in the Litter Act 1979 as the primary body responsible for litter mitigation in New Zealand. In 1984, the organisation adopted a more community-based approach to the issue of littering and changed its name to the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Society Inc.[31] Since its foundation in 1967, Keep New Zealand Beautiful has created nationally recognised educational campaigns to promote litter abatement. Anti-litter campaigns additionally address further issues like climate action, reducing environmental pollution and protecting biodiversity.[31]  

Popular campaigns launched by Keep New Zealand Beautiful include ‘Be a Tidy Kiwi’ and ‘Do the Right Thing.’

Other programmes launched by the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Council include:  

• Kiki Kiwi & Friends Litter Less Programme
• Young reporters Litter Less Programme
• Clean up Week
• Community clean ups
• Tidy Kiwi Volunteer of the Month
• Beautiful Awards[32]

The Litter Intelligence Programme[33] is an educational initiative developed by the New Zealand based charity Sustainable Coastlines.[34] The programme was launched in May 2018 and is funded by the Waste Minimisation Fund which is administered by the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment.[33] The Programme focuses on beach litter and functions as both a citizen science project and a school education programme.[35] On a local level the programme addresses the issue of litter through behavioural reform. It aims to encourage schools and citizens to address and measure the environmental impact of litter. On a national level, it aims to create a national litter database.[36] The Litter Intelligence Programme uses a localised version of the monitoring methodology established by the United Nations Environment Programme.[33]

According to Camden Howitt, Co-Founder and Coastlines Lead at Sustainable Coastlines:

“robust environmental monitoring programmes are few and far between, and where they do exist, communities are seldom engaged with the monitoring work and data that inform the decisions that shape their communities.”[35]