New Zealand zero waste campaigners, lead by Laura Cope, founder of New Zealand’s responsible café guide, Use Your Own (UYO), as well as Hannah Blumhardt and Liam Prince of The Rubbish Trip, are petitioning the Government to ban single-use disposable plastic cups, cutlery and containers. And YOU can help the campaign!
Did you know that New Zealand is one of the world’s most wasteful countries per capita? In the last decade, our waste sent to landfills rose 45 percent. Takeaway coffee cups alone add up to 295 million extra items to our landfills annually.
Single-use products require a vast amount of natural resources to be created and transported: fossil fuels, trees, bamboo, corn and water. And they will only be used once! Once thrown out, takeaway packaging goes straight to landfill, where it contributes to toxic leachate (from the additives in the plastic) and methane production (from the paper, cardboard or compostable layers breaking down anaerobically).
The idea of the Takeaway Throwaway petition is to make the Government introduce a mandatory phase-out of disposable food and drink serviceware containing plastic (including degradable, biodegradable and compostable plastic), such as cups and lids, food containers, cutlery and single-serve condiment sachets and bottles. It’s also calling for the Government to mandate reusable alternatives and to require that these alternatives are easily accessible for everyone.
The petition excludes plastic straws from the proposed list of banned items because some disabled people require plastic straws to drink.
“We are seeing more and more cafes voluntarily jump on board with reuse systems and reusable alternatives, and customers embracing BYO cups and containers. However, takeaway throwaways remain pervasive. People are often confused about what to do with single-use items once they’re finished with them, which can lead to waste stream contamination. The emergence of various ‘compostables’ has increased confusion and further enabled a throwaway culture. Replacing all these products with reusables seems simply logical,” says Laura Cope.
“We can make this shift to a reuse culture and a zero waste society. The potential for innovation is really exciting. We could be leading the world and offering a real solution to the plastic pollution problem at grassroots, business and Government level.”
Takeaway Throwaways believes that staying in the cafe or restaurant and enjoying your food without rushing, rather than ordering a takeout, could bring wider benefits of connecting communities, breaking isolation and reducing stress.
Sounds awesome? Visit takeawaythrowaways.nz and sign the petition today! These waste warriors need your help!
