The Ministry for the Environment is seeking voluntary redundancies before a "likely" formal change proposal.
They may sound harmless, but 'nurdles' are highly toxic.
Kermadecs "won't be commandeered by test tube-watching scientists", Shane Jones said.
"It's been accumulating all week."
"They don't just get there by themselves."
On Friday, he released a statement saying his comment had been misunderstood.
10 scientific societies have written an open letter asking officials to reconsider.
Investigations conducted by Consumer NZ found some laundry products were making false claims.
Councils are slicing every dollar they can manage but, when it bites into the core business of rubbish, is there a chance they've gone too far?
