New Zealand's Bacteria Bins: A Sustainable Plastic Recycling Solution

This report, focusing on the pressing issue of plastic pollution in New Zealand, proposes an innovative solution: Bacteria Bins. The core of the solution involves government-funded bins containing the bacteria Ideonella sakaiensis, which metabolizes and breaks down plastic waste into an environmentally safe powder. This approach aims to address waste management, pollution, and sustainability challenges, with a focus on both household and larger-scale plastic sources. The report discusses the sustainability of this solution, highlighting its potential to create renewable energy through pyrolysis and improve public health by reducing cardiovascular and respiratory issues. It also acknowledges potential barriers, such as funding approval, permissions from Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and the cost of bins for all residents. The report concludes by suggesting the use of the SWAP program to evaluate the efficacy of the Bacteria Bins solution, offering a pathway to a more sustainable future for New Zealand by utilizing bioremediation to combat plastic pollution.

Running Head: Sustainable Innovation of Bacteria Bins
Sustainable Innovation of Bacteria Bins

Sustainable Innovation of Bacteria Bins
Table of Content
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Reference list...................................................................................................................................7
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Sustainable Innovation of Bacteria Bins
Introduction
One of the major environmental issues in New Zealand is pollution due to the increased
usage of plastics. The usage of plastics has extremely impacted the country’s health and
environment condition because of the combination of the plastics with several atoms that results
in monomers, and hence, creates polymers that do not biodegrade. Moreover the ingestion of
microplastics by humans, through tap water or air, is another severe health issue that demands
immediate mitigation, owing to the fact that the microplastic contamination is widespread
throughout the world and almost always, goes unnoticed. This particular issue has effectively
contributed to the increased biodegradable wastes, problems with wildlife preservation,
sustainability challenges, pollution, and severe health conditions.
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Sustainable Innovation of Bacteria Bins
Discussion
The solution of utilizing bacteria bins is considered as a sustainable solution to this issue
because this aims at addressing the issue of recycling and processing the plastics from the entire
environment of New Zealand, rather than concentrating only on a particular environment
("Waste and resources | Ministry for the Environment", 2019). More significantly, the
environments, as well as the health conditions of New Zealand, are impacted by the usage of
plastics, as it intensifies the level of the water as well as land pollution, which have affected the
wildlife, water life, and human life. In such a scenario, other bioremediation techniques only
consider the breakdown of bacteria of aquatic environments, industrial environments, and large
dumps. However, the sustainable solution of bacteria bins, apart from considering these larger
sources, also concentrates on the smaller sources such as household usage of plastics. In this
way, the solution aims at mitigating the negative impacts of using plastics. The solution is
considered sustainable because of another reason, that is, the bacterial bins are not only
addressing the issue of removing the non-biodegradable waste from the environment but also
creating a source of sustainable and renewable energy through pyrolysis (Council, 2019).
Furthermore, the solution technique will promote better health and reduce the impact of
cardiovascular disease, respiratory issues and many more. The issue of the food chain will also
be addressed through the solution and hence, for these above-mentioned reasons, the solution is
viewed as the sustainable one.
As such, the major barrier to its sustainability is that the government of New Zealand,
which is awaiting approval of additional funding, is funding it; this can slower the impact of
bioremediation sought through this method. Seeking the permissions from TeTiriti o Waitangi
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Sustainable Innovation of Bacteria Bins
for implementing the proposed solution is considered as another barrier to the sustainability. The
Maori tribesmen are unaware of the ways in which the bacterial population can be utilized for
degradation of such inorganic wastes and this might be against their cultural beliefs, which
would make the issue more sensitive and make the process of retrieving permission more
difficult. The bacterial bins have to be bought from the local Municipal authorities against a
fixed price, which might not be feasible for everyone, especially the downtrodden and the people
belonging to Maori tribes, who hardly make their ends meet. The poor financial condition might
serve as a barrier for them, to buy and utilize the bacterial bins as a method for promoting
sustainability within the environment (Azoulay, 2019).
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Sustainable Innovation of Bacteria Bins
Conclusion
In order to assess the efficacy of the innovative solution, the New Zealand government
can utilize the evaluation system considering its protocols and hence the program of SWAP can
indicate the efficiency of the solution.
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Sustainable Innovation of Bacteria Bins
Reference list
Azoulay, D., Villa, P. (2019). Plastic and Health The Hidden Cost of Plastic Planet.
https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Plastic-and-Health-The-Hidden-Costs-
of-a-Plastic-Planet-February-2019.pdf
Council, A. (2019). Rubbish and recycling. Retrieved 27 September 2019, from
https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/rubbish-recycling/Pages/default.aspx
Waste and resources | Ministry for the Environment. (2019). Retrieved 27 September 2019, from
https://www.mfe.govt.nz/waste
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