Coastlands Goes Green for Spring
Kapiti Coast, Wednesday 13th September 2017 - Coastlands is celebrating Spring with reusable branded cups and bags when customers spend 20 dollars at any
participating Coastlands retailer.
Starting this week, Coastlands are giving away the bags and cups, which will be alternated weekly while stocks last.
Coastlands Manager Jan Forrest says it’s about Coastlands doing their bit for the environment.
“We did bags about eight years ago and decided it’s time to take action with going green. We have a responsibility to
raise awareness and encourage customers to recycle their existing bags and use reusable bags for their shopping where
possible.”
Statistics New Zealand found in 2014 that New Zealand spent $10.5 million on imported, lightweight plastic bags, with
Kiwi environmental group Sustainable Coastlines says it retrieved more than 91,000 plastic bags during 34 beach clean-up
events.
According to the Kapiti Coast District Council, plastic bags are not currently recycled due to international market
conditions, however, the Mayor recently signed a letter to the government demanding a levy be put on plastic bags to
reduce the volume of bags that are used.
As of December 2016, thirty countries and 170 states (including half of those in Australia) have either banned or
placed a levy on single-use plastic bags.
KCDC has also allocated funding for the latest Waste Reduction Grants for New Technology and Seed Funding, to a company
who is investigating co-pyrolysis of plastic bags with tyres to produce fuel and other useful products.
The Packaging Forum is also now offering a soft plastics recycling scheme through supermarkets in various regions,
including Kāpiti, where consumers can now drop their plastic bags off for recycling at the supermarket.
Coastlands hopes to raise more awareness on the issue and have its local consumers shop responsibly while caring for our
local environment.
ENDS