Taiwan sets the pace for PET recycling

Famous as a leader in the international green effort, New Zealand has been slower at home in pressing for more environmentally friendly products, but that's changing now.

"It’s imperative to remember that it's an improvement scheme. We don’t want to make it unrealistic — we can’t expect purism overnight."

NEW ZEALAND’S POSITION IN the world’s green marketing revolution is a little contradictory, being both ahead of and behind the times. On the one hand, the country has established a solid international reputation for being a world leader on many environmental issues. Its Greenpeace membership is one of the largest in the world — despite a tiny population of 3.2 million. Kiwis have initiated the move to establish an environmentally protected Antarctic Park. The New Zealand government’s anti-nuclear policy has long been a thorny issue between itself and its military allies, putting its membership of the ANZUS alliance under serious question. And New Zealand has been a major mover in the drive to get destructive drift-net fishing banned.

Environmental consciousness comes easily to a country that is predominantly agricultural, and makes good economic sense when one considers the importance of tourism. Spoil the countryside and you also spoil the basis of the tourist industry. After all, no-one goe~ to New Zealand for its nightlife!

But on the other hand, New Zealand’s marketers are comparatively late in their greening. Shell and BP are now pushing unleaded petrol. Reckitt & Colman have given heavy support to their "Down to Earth" range of cleaners and no aerosol brand would dream of appearing without a "CFC-free" claim. But by and large, there is much less of the clutter of green claims now so common in the US and Europe. Perhaps it is just that they have been less opportunistic about the movement. That is the view of account director at McCann’s in Auckland, Malcolm Scobie, who handles "Simple Green", a non-toxic, biodegradable, non-abrasive all-purpose cleaner imported from the US. His experience in the green-marketing battlefield leads him to conclude that marketers are not so bad in New Zealand. "I think marketers here are more responsible than overseas," he says. "They’ve shown greater discretion in the way they develop green-marketing claims."

Or perhaps it’s just that, as with so many trends, New Zealand is a bit late catching up. It is only now, for example, that a label for environmentally friendly products is being developed. The code, being developed by a company called Telarc, is designed both to encourage and reward manufacturers’ efforts to reduce any environmentally damaging effects of their products, and to help consumers sort out the proliferating number of green claims, says staffer at Telarc, Fiona Mackenzie.

Telarc is a small, independently funded quango whose main responsibility has been to ensure that certain technical standards are met in New Zealand. The previous prime minister, Geoffrey Palmer, came up with the idea of developing a government-endorsed labelling code and gave the task to Telarc. The company examined overseas schemes and the one they found best suited to their needs is one that has been operating in Canada since 1988.

The idea is to work with manufacturers, environmentalists and the public to set up criteria in each product field that will limit their impact on the environment. Over time those criteria can be tightened and improved. Manufacturers will be able to apply for Telarc’s Environmental Choice for New Zealand (ECNZ) label, .and if their products meet its criteria, will be licensed to display the ECNZ logo. If the scheme works, it will help give marketers a way of cutting through consumer scepticism and making credible green claims. At the same time it will help consumers who wish to make "green" purchasing decisions to recognise those products which are best suited to their choice.

In order to work, it needs both widespread manufacturing acceptance and a significant consumer launch campaign. Mackenzie is optimistic about the former and says that manufacturers’ response has been very encouraging so far. She is rather more sanguine about the latter. Funding for advertising will not be easy to obtain from a government which is currently preaching the values of self-help and no government intervention, and which is also struggling with a depressed and sluggish economy. However, plans are being made and the first products with the ECNZ label should be on the market by the end of this year. The logo design has just been completed, and was done by the same company that handled Greenpeace’s design work, Blue Moon.

It is a scheme that should be considered carefully by overseas producers hoping to export to New Zealand. They should also be encouraged by its participative nature. Mackenzie is at pains to emphasize that the aim is not to lay down expensive and unobtainable standards but to encourage gradual progress. "It’s imperative to remember that it’s an improvement scheme," she says. "We don’t want to make it unrealistic — we can’t expect purism overnight. Certain pressure groups will come back to us and say we’re too lax, but we must be realistic. It’s no good putting people out of business."

New Zealand may be late in joining the green marketing movement in some ways but it has the advantage of having used the time constructively to consider the financial implications and consequently is now well ahead of many countries in its efforts to knit together green consumerism and the economics of environmental responsibility.