Plastic Free July Aotearoa
Through a partnership with the Ministry for the Environment and WasteMINZ these resources, tools and assets have been designed to help people in Aotearoa, New Zealand reduce plastic waste. Each year hundreds of thousands of people in NZ take part in the challenge and make a real difference by choosing to refuse single-use plastics. Share at home or take to school, work, or with your community. Kirihou kore – kawea ake!
Plastic Free July participants:
- reduce their household waste and recycling by 15kg per person per year (3.5% less waste)
- globally they reduced 2.1 billion tonnes of waste and recycling including 300 million kgs of plastic consumption
- 86% people made changes that have become habits/ a way of life
- after 11 years Plastic Free July has reduced global demand by 2.3% of all bottled water, 3.1% of all fruit and vegetable packaging, 4.0% of all plastic straws
Become a waste minimisation winner! Play the Kirihoukore game here. Choose 10 items to swap for reusables and go in the draw to win.
At the good tonic, we encourage everyone to help promote the reduction of plastic use -
There is a saying “We don't need a handful of people doing sustainability perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.”
What you can do
Choose to refuse pre-packed fruit and vegetables.
How you can do it
Buying plastic-wrapped or packaged fruits and vegetables can be convenient, but unfortunately it creates plastic waste. Instead, look out for loose fruit and vegetables in your local grocery store, or head to a farmers market or organic store where plastic packaging is less often used.
Choose lightweight, reusable produce bags instead of the plastic bags that are usually provided. Be sure to look for ones made from recycled plastic or repurposed netting fabric.
It’s also worth asking if you really need a plastic bag. For example, if you’re buying a bunch of bananas, why not just keep them loose in your shopping basket or trolley and transport them home in your reusable shopping bag?
What you can do
Choose to refuse single-use plastic drink bottles
How you can do it
Avoiding buying single-use plastic water bottles is as simple as carrying your own reusable alternative with you. Be sure to choose a socially-responsible and environmentally-friendly alternative, such as a reusable bottle made from stainless steel, glass, or safe aluminium.
If you do forget to bring your water bottle along with you, don’t panic. You can find a fountain, ask a cafe for a glass of water, or purchase a glass bottle of water and reuse it.
Taking the next steps:
Go further with your impact by encouraging and supporting businesses to provide refillable water stations. At the good tonic we offer a free water refill from our filtered water cooler, just ask us to help.
You can also talk to school campuses about rethinking selling bottled water to their students.
And finally, don’t underestimate the impact of writing to your local government. Ask them to ban single-use plastic and hold manufacturers accountable by implementing extended producer responsibility schemes.
The impact
- Reduce the pollution produced by plastic water bottles, which end up in landfills and impact millions of animals and habitats
Contribute to less waste. Avoid products that are wrapped in plastic and seek more sustainable alternatives.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Although we are in the business of retail, selling our carefully curated goods to you, our customer, we still promote following the three R’s (reduce, reuse, and recycle) you can help create a more sustainable future for our planet.
What can you do?
Reduce what you buy. Before you make a purchase, ask yourself if you truly need it, or if you can repurpose other items that you already have. Shopping for second-hand clothing and products helps
How you can do it
Before you make a purchase, ask yourself 3 simple questions:
- Do I actually need this?
- Is there an option with less plastic packaging?
- Is there an alternative made from recycled materials?
Be aware that recycling rules may change, and aren’t necessarily always the ‘best’ option. In other words, ‘reduce’ should still be your top priority. In saying that, you can still work towards becoming an expert recycler using these tips:
- Find out what’s recyclable in your area
- Check the rules for recycling in your area (e.g. which items to separate, rinse or take to a specialist collection point)
- Ask what can and can’t go in your recycling bins (for example, many recycling systems can’t take old toys, clothing, scrap metal or some types of plastic)
Taking the next steps
If you can’t recycle items in your municipal system, search for special recycling companies near you such as TerraCycle or REDcycle.
You can also support campaigns for:
- Local and on-shore recycling facilities, to reduce the pollution caused by transporting goods
- Governments to regulate manufacturers to minimise packaging and use sustainable materials
- Governments holding manufacturers accountable by implementing extended producer responsibility schemes
The impact
- All of the oil, water and other resources used to make products is wasted if those products aren’t recycled
- By reducing, reusing, and recycling, you can help minimise landfill waste.
If you would like to make your own produce bag, or download any of the images, please click HERE.
