Best practice in voluntary environmental approaches: a preliminary evaluation of five New Zealand local authority pollution prevention programmes. : a dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Professional Studies, Environmental Management at Lincoln University

Abstract

Worldwide, voluntary environmental approaches have been operating for over 50 years. This dissertation reviews voluntary environmental programmes for pollution prevention from five countries to create ‘best practice’ design criteria. Currently New Zealand has five councils implementing voluntary pollution prevention programmes for industry; these programmes are surveyed and compared to the ‘best practice’ design criteria. Voluntary approaches require policy support, this review identifies policy mechanisms that support voluntary environmental approaches. New Zealand national and local environmental policy is analysed and compared to the identified policy mechanisms and recommendations are made.