Amount of waste generated by New Zealanders held steady in 2025

The Waste & Recycling Industry Association says after plummeting from 2022 to 2024, the amount of waste generated by New Zealanders held steady in 2025.

The data for association's 2025 Waste & Recycling Snapshot was derived from the WRIA's seven members, along with key recyclers in Auckland and Christchurch, who together are responsible for collecting around 95 percent of New Zealand's household waste and recycling, and handle 70 percent of municipal landfill waste.

A total of 4.2 million tonnes of waste was handled by WRIA members in 2025, down from close to 4.4m tonnes the year before. This follows a decline from over 6m tonnes in 2022.

Executive director Barney Irvine said the change was driven construction demolition waste which makes up over 50 percent of what turns up in New Zealand's landfills.

He believed the waste data reflected the state of the wider economy, with the data suggesting that the recent economic downturn may have reached its lowest point.

"It really speaks to the state of the economy, precipitous decline 20 to 24, and then an economy struggling to get back up on its feet since then."

There was also significant movement in where recycling material was sent for processing, with the proportion of recycling processed onshore decreased from 66 percent to 54 percent, while the proportion processed offshore increased from 23 percent to 36 percent.

"That is almost all down to the closure of those Oji Fibre facilities, which were the only large-scale facilities we had to process in paper and cardboard."