The government’s first ever ‘Wellbeing’ Budget has allocated $4 million over the next four years to improve recycling and shift New Zealand “to a more efficient zero waste economy”.
Released today the Wellbeing Budget is the first of its kind, incorporating a wider set of wellbeing measures, targeting welfare issues such as mental illness, family violence and child poverty, alongside economic growth.
The new funding allocated to waste and recycling will be put towards implementing a national resource recovery programme in response to China’s waste ban and action on single use and problem plastics.
“New Zealanders care deeply about reducing waste,” Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage said.
“This funding forms part of our plan to turn around New Zealand’s poor record on waste.”
An additional $18 million will be committed over the next four years to continue the Bioresource Processing Alliance and Product Accelerator.
The Bioresource Processing Alliance co-funds and co-develops innovative products or processes that turn low value biological waste streams into new high-value products.
The Product Accelerator also helps develop technologies that create new products, new market opportunities and grow New Zealand’s exports.
New funding to tackle climate change
The government also announced in its ‘Wellbeing Budget’ it is setting into law greenhouse gas reduction targets to meet the Paris Agreement goal of keeping temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees.
The Budget will commit $107 million to ensure the economic transition required to deliver those emission reductions.
Budget 2019 will also invests $8.5 million in 2019/20 in the Global Research Alliance (GRA) on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases to reduce and mitigate agricultural emissions.
An investment of $25 million over four years will go into the Agricultural Climate Change Research Platform to support research in New Zealand to help agriculture deal with the effects of climate change.
To tackle the long-term challenge of climate change, the Government announced it will invest in research into energy production.
The National New Energy Development Centre will help create new business and jobs in Taranaki while helping New Zealand move towards clean, affordable, renewable energy and away from fossil fuels.
The ‘Wellbeing Budget’ will allocate $27 million to set up the centre in Taranaki, alongside a further $20 million over four years to establish a new science research fund for energy technology.
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