My Account
I returned from holiday last week to the welcome news that Countdown, followed by New World will, in response to consumer demand, be plastic bag free by the end of next year. It is a great start and reflects hard work and feedback by many individuals and organisations including Greenpeace and local groups such as One Bag at a Time and Boomerang Bags Hibiscus Coast. Hopefully Pak ‘n’ Save and Four Square make the same commitment.
One trip and unnecessary plastic – and polystyrene – is everywhere, and let’s hope that things such as sushi containers (why not take your own?) and plastic straws (who really needs those?) and takeaway coffee cups are next in the firing line. Last year a café in Dunedin refused to serve coffee in disposable cups, and this year one in Christchurch followed suit; customers soon brought their own reusable cups. My local fruit and vegie store has taken to wrapping individual aubergines in plastic – there can be no justification for that.
Recently I bought a small muffin from a café in Orewa and was amazed to be given it in a very big paper bag. Inside the bag, the muffin was encased in a large plastic container, along with a plastic knife and fork. The café was happy to take all the packaging, bar the paper bag, back at my request.
I will not be returning to another local café that hands out its takeaway food in polystyrene containers, instead frequenting several that use cardboard instead. Polystyrene is a scourge, particularly to the marine environment, breaking up into tiny balls that are consumed by fish and other creatures. In addition, styrene, the plastic used in the manufacture of the product, is classified by the US National Institute of Health and the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a possible human carcinogen. Reducing the use of this is critical – in the meantime comes the positive step that the Whangaparaoa Recycling centre is now able to take polystyrene (see story).
What the plastic bag ban by the two supermarkets proves is that consumers have power. By drawing a store’s attention to excess, one trip and unnecessary packaging you can effect change.
