Sustainable Production and Consumption of Single‐Use Plastic Packaging in Aotearoa New Zealand: Expert Interpretations and Major Supermarket Representations

Supermarkets trade a plethora of products wrapped in single‐use plastic packaging (SUPP), which is a key driver of plastics production and consumption. Harmonised criteria to assess the sustainable production and consumption (SPC) of plastics are critical for policy development that effectively protects human and environmental health. However, the spaces where actors make decisions and produce knowledge allow for broad interpretations of SPC and the criteria by which it may be assessed. We examine the supermarket duopoly's representations of SPC and the potential for these to influence the effectiveness of Aotearoa New Zealand's plastic pollution framework. Critical discourse analysis of interviews with local experts and publicly available major supermarket sustainability documents were used to highlight power, language and knowledge relationships. We found that current SUPP production and consumption was generally understood by local experts as unsustainable. While access to information was viewed as critical to transparent trade of safe and sustainable SUPP, there are currently no globally harmonised criteria and definitions and, therefore, no universal standards for data transparency across the full life cycle of plastics. Major supermarket representations of safe, sustainable and essential uses of SUPP generally reflected dominant discourses that perpetuate the status quo. Narratives of SUPP ‘recycling’ and ‘recyclability’ dominate the supermarket duopoly's sustainability documents. However, local experts offered transformational ideas that challenge business as usual. The study highlights that empowering a range of independent experts to participate in the development of harmonised criteria is crucial to transition to the safer and more SPC of SUPP.