Other plastics: Retailers and manufacturers take the plastic bag stick

While consumers are being asked to make major changes to eliminate plastic from the system, retailers and manufacturers are also proactive.

Single-use bags will be banned from the middle of next year, but there is still a lot of plastics in the form of packaging, disposable cutlery and food packaging.

For its part, Foodstuffs, one of the two giant supermarkets in the country, said its customers have made it clear that sustainability is not limited to plastic bags.

"Customers are looking for green, fair trade, organic and sustainable products, but these are insignificant in the plastics issue," spokeswoman Antoinette Laird said.

READ MORE:
* After the plastic bags, what's next? The government attacks "the circular economy"
* All you need to know about ban plastic bags in New Zealand

"Now that the cash bags have been settled, the focus is on reducing plastic packaging and waste from our stores."

The countdown indicated that he was also looking to reduce and eliminate as much plastic as possible.

"Over the past year, we have removed 70 tons of unnecessary packaging from our product range, including plastic banana packaging, and we alone have removed 15.8 tons of plastic. We no longer sell disposable plastic straw parcels, "said a spokeswoman. .

Just like Countdown, Foodstuffs, which operates Pak's Save, Four Square and New World, has supported the plastics recycling program and has discouraged printed receipts.

It has also moved to recyclable meat trays, diverting about 120 million trays from landfills.

But Laird said that one of his most exciting projects was Project Naked, also known as "food in the nude". Several New World stores on the South Island were spraying unpackaged products to reduce the freshness of packaging.

It was expensive and the system was introduced with new stores or renovations, she said.

New World was also testing the concept of "bring your own" containers. Tests on paper alternatives to aluminum pouches and fiber-based charcuteries are also underway.

Although food safety has been a major concern for BYO containers, Laird said they were focusing on meat and seafood "that are usually cooked after the purchase".

"The adoption has been slow, but we are determined to conduct the test and we will see what happens next year.

The packaging plan for the food product aims to reduce the number of unnecessary packaging, but if it wishes, the company only wants to use grade 1 and 2 clear plastics that can be recycled at the end of the sidewalk.

The waste of food has also been addressed and food products have given the equivalent of 5.6 million meals to local communities over the past 12 months, said Laird. "It's food that's too good to be thrown out, but not good enough to sell."

Manufacturers are also becoming smarter. In Auckland, Innocent Packaging manufactures compostable coffee cups, clear containers and other serving items made of corn starch, bamboo, sugar cane, paper and PLA, polyacetic acid.

She even sells toilet paper made from sugar cane and bamboo waste.

Everything is compostable and under ideal conditions, it comes back to earth in 10 to 12 weeks.

Although Innocent is working with a collection company and a composting company, general manager Fraser Hanson said the products would break down in a compost pile or dump – they just could not guarantee the time that it would take.

Hanson said that there was some confusion about compostable items and that these had been included in the ban on plastic bags because there was currently no commercial recycling facility and that they were worried that they would contaminate the recycled waste stream.

"The essence of our packaging lies in the fact that oil-based or even recycled plastic packaging will always be recycled into another piece of plastic that will never go away. possibility of being composted. "

When plastics can not be recycled or reduced, they are sometimes eliminated. The harmful microbeads were banned by the government last year.

Foods removed plastic cotton swabs from plastic rods and the company was also working on alternatives to plastic straws "taking into account the needs of the wider community, such as customers with disabilities".

Foodstuffs also introduce reusable menstrual cups and gradually eliminate plastic applicator pads.

The strategy was paying off, said Laird. The average food store in the waste reduction program reduced its landfill by 45%.

In August, 29 stores met or exceeded 90% of landfill waste