Plastic Reduction and Circular Economy Act 2021 No 31.

The Act is organsied in 9 Parts and 4 Schedules. The objects of this Act are as follows a) to protect the environment and human health, b) to promote and support the principles of a circular economy, c) to support material circularity through design, production, use, re-use, collection, recycling, reprocessing and end-of-life management, d) to ensure responsibility for products across their life cycle, e) to reduce the impact, or potential impact, of items, waste from items and waste material on the environment and human health.
Part 2 identifies and regulates prohibited plastic items; under the Act a prohibited plastic item means a plastic item that is unnecessary, or for environmental, human health or economic reasons, including reasons relating to waste management or resource management—problematic, and that is prescribed by the regulations or specified in Schedule 1, Part 1 of the Act. Part 3 lays down the product stewardship requirements and targets; for instance a product stewardship requirement may be prescribed for or in relation to the following: the use or re-use of recycled materials or other materials that will minimise the environmental or resource impact of a product’s creation; the traceability of materials; the ability of a product to be recycled, composted, repaired, processed, re-processed or re-used; the re-use, re-manufacture, recovery, recycling, take-back, use or disposal of a product or resources from a product; the prevention, reduction or recovery of litter; the prevention or reduction of unlawful waste disposal; the reduction in material used in a product; the design of a product; the maintenance, sharing, repair, refurbishment or upgrade of a product; the longevity of a product; the reduction of the impact, including the potential impact, of a product or the life cycle of a product on resource management or waste management, including in relation to virgin materials, demand for landfill, the environment or human health.