Krausz, RobertHughey, Kenneth F. D.Beck, Jody2011-09-092011-05-08Krausz, R., Hughey, K., Beck, J. (2011). All for naught: the plastic bag debate as a window into the abandonment of zero waste in New Zealand. Oral presentation at Moving Toward a Sustainable Future: Opportunities and Challenges, the 17th Annual Sustainable Development Research Conference, 8-10 May 2011, Columbia University, New York City, USA.https://hdl.handle.net/10182/3843In 2002, New Zealand became one of the first countries in the world to adopt zero waste as a national policy. In doing so, it acquired a global reputation as a pioneer country in applying innovative approaches to the problem of waste. However, while other countries have since followed their lead, New Zealand itself has reversed course, culminating in 2010 with a formal abandonment of zero waste targets in favour of less ambitious goals. Analysis of the plastic bag debate in New Zealand provides a valuable window into the evolution of its national zero waste policy, from adoption to abandonment.enCopyright © The Author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 New Zealand License.Plastic Shopping Bag (PSB)zero waste initiativesenvironmental managementwaste managementpublic policyConference Contribution - unpublishedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives