www.eastbourneherald.co.nz
20 October Ōketopa 2018
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Reusable bags take off the Village by Carl McRae Plastic bag usage in Eastbourne Village has dropped by fifty percent in the year since Boomerang Bags have been available here. Gen Packer’s Boomerang Bags operation is celebrating a year in service this weekend and to commemorate the milestone, the group is hoping to reach 1,000 individually numbered bags at their next scheduled working bee. “Our first working bee was on October 29, 2017,” Gen says. “It has been a crazy year, a great journey, and slowly we believe that the bags are making a difference to attitudes.” “There has been an up to 50 percent drop-off in plastic bag usage in the village over that twelve month period with local retailers,” she says. “It’s fair to state that it is not entirely associated with just Boomerang Bags themselves, as a considerable amount of local shoppers now take their own cloth bags to the village when purchasing food items.” Even so, getting the ball rolling as she and Mary Ryan did produced the desired snowball effect: one that has seen plastic bag consumption at the Four Square alone drop from between 4,000-5,000 per week to around 1,000. Four Square owner Mike Anderson says that is just the beginning. As of October 15, the push to rid the store of plastic began in earnest with the introduction of paper bags for sale at 20c each. “Plastic bags will remain in place until the end of the year,” Mike says, “but [parent company] Foodstuffs are looking at a total shift away from plastic, including working hard with their own suppliers to look at ways where packaging can be changed or modified. We also promote Boomerang Bags and have our own Four Square cloth bags available in store for a nominal fee.”
Mike says he would be prepared to support or at least investigate further any local eco-initiatives as they were presented. Four Square is not the only retail business in the village to investigate the possibility of going plastic free. Each business has different requirements and most can only do so much towards achieving the goal. Barry Spooner, owner of Eastbourne Village Meats says that the cost of paper bags and sheet paper is very high. “It costs us 4c for plastic and 42c for paper without handles, $1.40 with handles,” he says. “There are alternatives arriving in New Zealand such as compostable bags made from starches. I’m not sure how they would fare with moisture. Our singlet [plastic] bags are degradable. I’m still learning, it’s a work in progress.” For some shoppers, the intent is there, but changing habits takes time. “Best way to remember is still to catch yourself out,” Gen says. “If one makes it a priority, something which fits squarely into what you do in daily life, it becomes an easier mind shift. Leave bags in your car. Stick a post-it note on your front door. “It’s also worth noting that they are a shopping bag. We’ve been made aware of examples of some women using them as handbags.” On a national scale, 2018 has been a big year for the reduction in plastic bag use. In February a 65,000 signature petition was presented to Parliament calling for their total ban. More than forty countries have already taken action to ultimately eradicate plastic bags. However, universal opinion is that plastic bags are the low-hanging fruit of the plastics problem. New Zealand company Packaging Forum, of which more than 200 Kiwi companies have invested in an industry-led recycling
Good bots Programmers in the making: Eastbourne library proved a place of learning basic coding over the holidays, with a popular Ozobots session. An Ozobot is a small robot that follows lines, including blocks of stickers that are coded to create different kinds of movement such as a change in direction, and faster or slower pace. programme, is no longer able to offload its recycled soft plastic to the Australian company that previously made park benches, bollards and playground equipment, owing to the company being inundated. It is now being placed in storage and stockpiled until it can be recycled, or it is being used in processing trials on a local basis while other overseas recycling options are looked into. Continues Page 3
Volunteer Rangers needed for Matiu/Somes Island
East by West Ferries are pleased to support the Eastbourne Forest Rangers (EFR) to seek new members EFR volunteer rangers: • Support DOC with visitor management of the Island • Lead guided tours of the island for public and school groups • Travel to and from the island is at no cost • Are provided with training and a uniform Weekend and/or weekday roles available. Contact efrtours@gmail.com or 027 242 9211 for more information.
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