Waste is money: the $1.5 billion rubbish industry

BusinessDesk is investigating the trash industry. (Image: NZME)

Tue, 18 Jul 2023

Rubbish is often seen through the lens of its cost to the environment. But rubbish is also a vast industry, employing thousands of people in NZ and generating more than $1.5 billion in revenue each year. In the 2021 financial year, at least $886m of that revenue went to foreign-owned firms. The industry is set to grow bigger as the government introduces a raft of regulations to divert waste away from landfills, which will create new jobs and revenue streams.The government’s clampdown on waste started slowly, with the Waste Mini...

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