Leadership Journey Part 4: What should New Zealand do?

Waking up this morning and thinking about what New Zealand should do around sustainability and I my place as leader was top of mind.

My journey continues as I start my second year of part-time masters studies at the University of Cambridge on Sustainability Leadership.

So, what does this mean for NZ and me personally?

What can I personally do but also where the government has a critical role to play? These are my thoughts from my readings and research to date.

• Our goods should be 100% recyclable where possible. I can make a difference by only buying such items for the office and home.
• I would like to see companies and suppliers (not customers) fully responsible for disposing of packaging material, including polystyrene! I hate that we have to take the packaging home to recycle where I would expect the retailer to accept this responsibility with their supplier. By being a purpose driven organisation, it’s not all about profit maximisation. The responsibility needs to be shared.
• In New Zealand, it would be great to see the reintroduction of refundable bottle deposits on all glass bottles. We also need to ban plastic bottles forever.
• Some types of plastic cannot be recycled here and its not clear what can or is recycled currently. Further work by local councils and central government required here.
• Buying local versus imports where possible. We avoid the carbon footprint and its a win win for our local economy especially during the covid-19 pandemic.
• Government needs to introduce a program to provide financial incentives for buyers to purchase EV cards to encourage uptake faster than we are seeing today.
• Finally all new home builds should have solar panels and grey water systems in place. Government can also encourage through financial incentives the same for existing homes.
• Government and leaders of these companies need to work together to make this a reality.