We want the New Zealand Government to phase out Single-Use Priority (SUP)** items by 2023.
The Government has indicated that these SUP items are next to be phased out, however the time frame for some of these is currently proposed to be in place by January 2025.
Join us in calling on the New Zealand Government to take more proactive action by committing to phasing out all listed SUP items within one term (by 2023).
Each day, more and more single-use plastic items are discarded into landfills, and the natural environment. Actions speak louder than words, and we want to see the Government take action on single-use plastic items by committing to quantifiable time frames and full phase-out of SUP items by 2023.
One of the biggest issues facing our natural environment is pollution. An estimated 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic entered the ocean in 2010 from people living within 50 kilometres of the coast in 192 countries.
Plastic pollution has a direct effect on coastal and marine wildlife, and thousands of marine animals are killed each year as they mistake floating plastics for food or they become entangled in it. Plastic ingestion has been documented from small fish to sea birds and large mammals.
Plastics clog waterways, and end up in landfills where they may take many decades to thousands of years to break down into smaller particles that continue to pollute the environment.
** PVC and polystyrene packaging and beverage containers (including polystyrene meat trays, cups and takeaway food containers), non-compostable fruit stickers, plastic cotton buds and single-use plastic cutlery, plastic straws and stirrers, disposable plastic plates, bowls and cups, plastic lined coffee cups and lids, produce plastic bags, other plastic packaging.
References:
1) Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean