A Customer Attacks Bunnings Plastic Waste at Lyall Bay Store, Wellington

By Meriana Johnsen for RNZ

A man from Wellington is fed up with trying to get the Bunnings of Lyall Bay to control their plastic, but the hardware manufacturing chain said that she was making efforts to ensure that her garbage did not go away. more.

The south coast of Wellington is known for its southern winds. It's also a popular surf spot, where the Steve Cronin likes to get off to take a ride.

The surfer and pbadionate sailor is concerned about the state of our oceans and wants industrial companies to take greater responsibility for their waste.

"It's the big dump, it's about the size of Texas – we eat our own pollution."

Two years ago, he found an industrial bin open outside the Bunnings area that was overflowing with garbage. Since then, he has contacted Bunnings several times about the amount of trash found around their building.

He added that although they had made improvements, including sending a "green team" to pick up lost trash, he was frustrated to find large pieces of flying plastic packaging Friday and Saturday.

"I'm going out for lunch break and there's a huge bag going on, you know, so the tragedy for me is that I only get a fraction of that."

"I've got a bag out there that, in 24 hours, after we've been told we'd do better next time, you'll be shocked by the amount of plastic – and that's not it. only a fraction. "

He wants Bunnings to do more to prevent the plastic from flying off.

"You have to control it, in a place like this, it must be covered and why not contact their suppliers and tell them: we will not buy any more products until you cover them in a factory. .. "based on other biodegradable materials or because we do not seem to be able to adjust in the end, stop placing the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. "

Bunnings' national operations manager, Derek Powell, apologized and said it was not good enough that the plastic is flying away.

He added that they had already taken steps to prevent loose items from flying out, including placing cargo nets over plastic recycling cages and installing a sail. additional shading on the perimeter fence.

Wellington City Councilor Sarah Free said she will be traveling in the next few days to talk to Bunnings about how they are managing waste.

– RNZ