Plastics New Zealand Incorporated works to maximise the growth and success of plastics-based technology in an economically, socially and environmentally responsible manner. The organisation has an Environmental Committee and a full time Environmental  Manager that assists the New Zealand Plastics industry.

There is a five year agenda for action through its Plastics Sustainability Initiative to help the industry achieve this mission. In 2004 an Industry Action Plan for plastic packaging manufacturers will also be announced.

One of the earliest actions in the industry in the 1990s was the plastic identification coding scheme to help with the organising of recycling systems by local councils.

How Green are NZ plastic manufacturers?

• Plastics New Zealand provides newsletters, workshops, seminars and training to our members every year to keep them up with the very latest environmental issues for plastics and industry. Go to news & info for more details.
• Our manufacturers comply with the Resource Management Act.
• All polymers and substances we use have approval under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act.
• Every year our manufacturers innovate to make more products with fewer raw materials - improving our efficiency economically and environmentally!
• At least 90% of all production waste plastic, is ground up and reused. We call this in-house recycling.
• We are actively encouraging better communication between plastic manufacturers and recyclers with annual workshops. We strive to create sustainable NZ markets for recovered plastics.
• Our member companies are involved in Cleaner Production, Energy Efficiency, Environmental Best Practice and Zero Waste programmes.

There are many services, programmes, and websites full of information that can help businesses become more sustainable, economically, socially and environmentally. One of these is the Ministry for the Environment 'Simply Sustainable' web-toolkit for sustainable business practice, www.sustainability.mfe.govt.nz.