The Associate Environment Minister, Eugenie Sage, is lining up a law change to reduce the amount of waste New Zealanders create.
The world's oceans are now said to be choking on plastic and Kiwis are generating more than their fair share of harmful waste.
Each New Zealander generates 3.6 kilograms of waste a day, and according to the World Bank that's among the highest in the developed world.
Ms Sage wants to clean up our act, by reviewing a decade-old law that was meant to reduce our rubbish.
"The volumes of waste going to landfill in New Zealand have been increasing over the last decade. We need to turn that around," she told 1 NEWS.
"We are seeing more people using keep cups instead of disposable coffee cup, people putting out a lot of recycling. But it's about how do we make it easy for all of us to reduce waste."
Officials are also looking at a tax on plastic bags.
“It's just a real attitude change
"We have got to phase out the use of single-use plastic bags. They have appalling consequences for marine wildlife. So we are looking, with the ministry, at what we can do there," Ms Sage said.
The rest of the world is already beginning to move away from a throw-away culture.
China recently imposed a ban on the import of foreign waste. And by 2030 all packaging in the European Union must be reusable or recyclable. The EU is also looking at a tax on single use plastics.
James Denton, owner of Goodfor, an Auckland supermarket that's plastic free, wants to make it easier for shoppers to be environmentally conscious.
"You can't really, like, tell people to do things. I think it's just a real attitude change, like making sure that you are aware of it and realising that it's not sustainable to shop they way we do," Mr Denton said.
Such an attitude change could help New Zealanders dump single use-plastic for good.
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