On Friday March 9, Air New Zealand held their annual Sustainability Fair for around a thousand of their staff at their Auckland HQ.

The objective: inspire and educate Air New Zealand’s staff about a wide range of sustainable initiatives and environmentally-minded practices that anyone can participate in or include in their daily lives.

That’s why “Bags Not” was invited to the event. Air New Zealand wanted to spread the word about our effort to get rid of single-use plastic bags from the country. While we were there, we gave away over 200 reusable shopping bags, had loads of people sign up to our movement or pledge to take our 7-Day “Bags Not” Challenge.

We were in good eco-friendly company too. Sea Cleaners, New World, Department of Conservation, Auckland Transport, Auckland City Council, Eco Matters Environment Trust, Auckland University (Plastic Diet), For The Love of Bees, Compost Collective, Kaipatiki Environment Project Centre, ecostore, Green Heart Jewellery, The Wild Seaweed Company, Shed 24 Unique Wooden Projects, Tree Candy, Trio Soya Candles, Hihi Honey, Vegan Otherside Foodtruck, Las Masitas Vegan Mexican Street Food, Organic Gelato, Hungry for Raw, Mercury Energy, Macpac and Hummingbird Coffee were also there, sharing the amazing work they’re doing to restore this country’s clean green credentials.

Some photos from the day:

Check out this great NZ company doing their bit to help make your family plastic wrap-free: LilyBee

The founders of LilyBee felt like they were drowning in plastic. They were right. In 2013 alone, 78 million metric tons of plastic packaging was produced worldwide. 40% of it was landfilled and another 32% escaped into the environment, polluting the land and sea. 268,940 tons are estimated to be choking Earth’s oceans.

This is a global problem, which means it’s an issue here in our country too. According to recycle.co.nz, projections show that with current population growth, the annual amount of waste sent to landfills will almost double within 10 years in Auckland alone.

So they set out on a mission to make their family plastic wrap-free. After lots of trial and error to get their formula right, they came up with a recipe for a natural wrap that uses local beeswax, tree resin and organic coconut oil infused into 100% cotton.

Now thousands of families around New Zealand have followed their lead and are using their LilyBee Wrap. People have discovered how well the wraps keep food fresh, how pretty they are, how good they smell and how good it feels to be a plastic wrap-free household!

We were lucky enough to be invited along to a recent Volvo Ocean Race function to witness New Zealand’s Associate Environment Minister, Eugenie Sage, sign New Zealand up to the United Nations Clean Seas campaign. We are the 42nd country to do so.

In this year’s Volvo Ocean Race there’s a team called ‘Turn The Tide On Plastic’ representing the United Nations’ ‘Clean Seas’ initiative. They’re campaigning throughout the eight months of the race to raise awareness about the problem of plastics in our oceans.

Did you know that scientist estimate there is over 150 million tonnes of plastic in the world’s oceans and that every year 8 million more tonnes is added!

This plastic can then be ingested by whales, turtles and other larger marine animals, or breaks apart (very slowly) forming microplastics that are ingested by animals at the bottom of the food chain, such as plankton. The plastic then works its way back up the food chain as bigger fish eat the smaller fish until eventually it ends up on our dinner plates.

Because the boats in the Volvo Ocean Race travel through such remote parts of the world’s ocean, they provide the perfect opportunity to test how much plastic is in those waters. The Turn The Tide On Plastic team is deploying specialised scientific equipment as they race, providing valuable data for scientists to study.

New Zealand sailor Bianca Cook is on board the Turn The Tide On Plastic boat. She spoke at the event highlighting the shocking amounts of plastic they have seen during the race and how everyone needs to work together to stop using single-use plastics. She’s also onboard and spreading the word as an early-adopter of our “Bags Not” Facebook profile pic. You can too. To show your support like Bianca and change your profile pic.

Minister Sage spoke about what we do on the land affects the oceans. “People need to think about whether they really need that single-use plastic bag, single-use plastic straw an disposable packaging.”

To learn more about the Turn The Tide On Plastic campaign, check out the Clean Seas website: www.cleanseas.org.

For more info on the Volvo Ocean Race and how Bianca’s team are tracking, take a look at their website: www.volvooceanrace.com.

Every little effort you make to reduce your use of plastics, no matter how small it may seem, contributes to solving the plastic pollution problem.

Sure, the big supermarket chains and retail stores can make changes that will have a big impact. But if we all work together, our little changes can go a long way. It’s not just in the actual reduction of your plastic usage, but perhaps more importantly in helping to inspire changes around you by adding momentum to the movement.

A simple action can be a very powerful motivator. If your colleague, your friend, your loved one, or even the person standing behind you in the queue sees you take out your reusable bag or water bottle, or hears you say “Bags Not” to a single-use plastic bag, they will make a mental note and it will take them one step closer to adopting those actions. The more these actions are seen and noted, the more people adopt them and the more they become the norm.

That’s what “Bags Not” is trying to achieve. We want all Kiwis to become aware of the plastic pollution problem and do their little bit to help solve it. It’s something we have all played a part in creating. Now it’s time we all played a part in ending it.

Remember, every avalanche starts with a single snowflake.

So do what you can, do your utmost to change the way you use plastics starting with plastic bags. Take the “Bags Not” 7-Day Challenge and then see how you go from there. Think of it as your gateway to living a less wasteful lifestyle.

To those of you who are further along your journey of change, keep doing what you’re doing, you never know how many people you have influenced by your actions. If you have a particular use for single-use plastics and you can’t find an environmentally-friendly solution, ask around. Talk to your friends and colleagues, or ask around your community. Do some research online. I can guarantee that you’re not the only one with the same problem. And hey, you never know, it may even be a business opportunity!

Ghandi said “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. It’s a sentiment that rings true. Remember, plastic doesn’t go away, it all goes somewhere. The best thing is to not use it in the first place.

Come on New Zealand, we’ve got this!

Nick Morrison
Director
Go Well Consulting

New Zealand’s excellent new Soft Plastics Recycling programme is doing a brilliant job. Last year, Kiwis disposed of 100 tonnes of single-use plastic bags and other soft plastic wrapping at participating supermarkets and retail stores around the country. Awesome!

Where can plastic bags be recycled?

In truth though, less than 1% of our soft plastics are being recycled. The rest is still heading to the landfills, or escaping into the environment. Not good.

If you’ve been doing the “Bags Not” 7-Day Challenge and learning how easy it is to live life free of plastic bags, you’re well on your way to becoming plastic bag-free. Keep up the good work.

And if you want to become even more plastic-free, there are plenty of great businesses who can help.

Auckland shoppers might already know about GoodFor, the plastic-free whole foods store in Ponsonby and Parnell. They ship nationwide with free packaging and delivery on orders over $100.

For shopping online there’s Package Free Shop, a store that sells bathroom and cleaning products unpackaged and free from waste. There’s also Life Without Plastic which sells a range of plastic-free drinkware and home decor products.

Every little change makes a big difference, so give these guys a go and give yourself a pat on the back for becoming a plastic-free me.