Greenpeace is welcoming the Government’s announcement today of a plan to phase out more single-use plastics, but is calling for the ban to cover a wider range of products, including plastic drink bottles.

"The world is drowning in plastic pollution, so it’s great to see the Government is stepping up to our challenge for more action to cut it off at the source by phasing out a wide range of single-use plastics. This signals that the Government is serious about tackling plastic and we’re stoked about that," says Greenpeace campaigner Holly Dove.

"It’s really awesome to see that the Government’s plastic plan tackles a phase-out of produce packaging without relying on bioplastic which is a false solution because it often doesn’t biodegrade."

However, Greenpeace isn’t entirely satisfied, saying that a commitment to eliminate plastic bottles, "one of the biggest plastic pollution culprits" is missing from the Government’s clean-up plan, along with a strategy to replace them with reusable alternatives.

"An estimated one billion plastic drinks bottles are sold to New Zealanders every year and Coca Cola alone floods NZ with hundreds of millions of plastic bottles annually - the majority of which end up in landfill and the sea," says Dove.

"To really make a dent in the tide of plastic pollution, we need to get rid of throwaway plastic drink bottles, and establish reusable alternatives and systems to collect and reuse plastic alternatives".

Greenpeace’s Ban the Bottle petition has more than 35 thousand signatures since its launch in June.

Government press release:

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-announces-plan-tackle-problem-plastics-and-seven-single-use-plastic-items

Greenpeace plastic bottle video

https://youtu.be/eOwC4luBzGo

How to make a reusable facemask to avoid throwaway masks

https://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/story/how-to-make-an-upcycled-reusable-fabric-covid-mask-and-avoid-plastic-pollution/

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