Here are the changes as of 1 July:
- The manufacture, sale or distribution of single-use plastic produce bags, plates, bowls, and cutlery will be banned.
- Single-use plastic straws will be restricted. Some businesses or organisations will still be able to provide them to disabled people and those with health needs.
- A transition to compostable plastic produce labels by 2025 will begin.
More info at the Ministry for the Environment: https://environment.govt.nz/what-you-can-do/campaigns/bans-on-single-use-and-hard-to-recycle-plastic-items/
I’m so happy to be rid of those horrible plastic fruit stickers!
Yeah those are a pain, I keep finding them in my compost bin.
The supermarket I work at took away the produce bags a couple of weeks ago and so many people were utterly unprepared for it. Last week the bags had returned.
Not having a replacement option available there seems very foolish, paper bags are still a thing.
Uh oh, I better let my partner know, she likes keeping those bags because we use them as bin liners
We recycle our soft plastics, and I’m amazed at how much we use for the kids’ school lunches. Our school does litter free lunches, so I unwrap everything at home: muesli bars, fruit bars, lollies, as well as things to make sandwiches: blocks of cheese, lunch meats from the deli, bread… it’s all wrapped in plastic.
Wasn’t there a push for using paper or some other biodegradable for bread recently? We got rid of the plastic bread clips/jandal repair kits.
I personally feel like I use so little plastic for fruit/veg… I just put them in my shopping bag like everything else, and some of it comes in a bag already if I’m at countdown or the like. One thing I don’t see getting rid of plastic is the deli in the grocery or the butcher… unless I start bringing glassware with me.
Before plastic deli and butcher used wax paper. They can again.
One thing to be careful with is that wax paper these days often is made with a plastic coating. Plastic is really ingrained in our lives.