Introduction

Although attention to waste governance has burgeoned over the last decade, progressing both theoretical understanding (see Bulkeley et al, 2007) and policy tool development (Hill et al, 2002), most of this work has focused either in-depth on one country or by examining particular mechanisms at a general level across widely varying nations or regions (see Parto, 2005). Both approaches have generated significant advances in understanding how governance practices in toto evolve in particular spaces, and how specific governing tools are applied through time and space, but neither provides extended comparative commentary. The aim of this chapter is, drawing on earlier comparative research (Davies, 2008a), to work with the insights gained from these existing waste governance approaches to undertake a detailed analysis of waste governance narratives and their influence over policy tools and waste management outcomes. Ireland and New Zealand have been selected for this purpose on the grounds that they share a degree of commonality in terms of population size, history and development. Both also accept the waste management hierarchy, which identifies waste prevention as the preferred option, then reuse, recycling and recovery, including energy recovery, with safe disposal as a last resort, as a guiding framework for sustainable waste management. More generally both are island nations that have faced significant challenges and conflicts over recent years in terms of how best to manage their waste. Of course there are also significant differences between the two nations that co-exist alongside these commonalities and, as the chapter outlines, even apparent similarities can conceal diverse experiences.

Initially the evolving pathways for political, cultural, economic and environmental development in the two countries are summarised and compared. The next section details the formal waste policy landscape of both countries, which is followed by an examination of the key governing interactions between the tiers and spheres of waste governance that appear to have influenced the policy landscape and the outcomes of those negotiated governing arrangements. The final section concludes with a reflection on the extent to which commonly articulated narratives, such as the waste management hierarchy, act as tools of convergence or obfuscation in relation to actual waste governance practices.

Governance landscapes

Despite being located in different hemispheres, there are some similarities between political and economic developments in both Ireland and New Zealand, not least that British colonialism has had a significant impact on both.