Our Seas Our Future welcomes New World decision on plastic bag phase-out.

The decision today by New World to phase out single-use plastic bags at its supermarkets has been welcomed by the non-profit marine conservation organisation Our Seas Our Future (OSOF). New World has announced an aim to be single-use plastic bag free by the end of 2018.

“We applaud the steps that New World is taking to address the reduction in single-use plastic bag use across its stores, by introducing a 10c voluntary donation per plastic bag, and helping customers transition away from single-use bags by giving away 2 million reusable bags.” says Noel Jhinku, OSOF Trustee.

“However we would have liked New World to have matched the recent decision by Countdown to remove all single-use plastic bags by end of 2018 rather than introduce a voluntary charge system which will still allow the option of single-use carrier bags to be used.”

New Zealanders use over 1 billion single-use plastic bags per year and these phase-out initiatives will see fewer bags ending up in our rubbish tips, this can only be seen as a positive. The phase-out will also reduce the number of plastic bags that enter our oceans, which harm marine animals. This decision is crucial for the conservation, protection and benefit of our coastal and marine environments.

OSOF will be supportive of other large supermarkets or chains if they choose to follow the leading example set by New World and Countdown.

References:

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6223/768
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep14340
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/284/1860/20171000
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/aquaculture/94814758/plastic-being-regularly-ingested-by-fish-consumed-in-new-zealand
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-10813-0

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