Litter by little: New Zealand's 'unhealthy culture' for plastic is increasing - and so is litter

Wednesday, 19 September 2018

Our national addiction means more plastic and non-biodegradable rubbish is making its way into our waterways and other environments.

We're littering more than ever, and that's news coming straight from the people who see it first hand. Amber-Leigh Woolf reports as part of our Litter by Little project.

New Zealand's litter problem is getting worse, despite the best efforts of people on the frontline who are cleaning our beaches.

Sustainable Coastlines co-founder and coastlines lead Camden Howitt said an unhealthy reliance on convenience foods and packaging was a major factor.

Trash on city streets, plastic in the sea, and illegal dumping are all part of the problem. In Auckland alone, litter cleanups cost almost $5 million a year.

**READ MORE:

Ghost Fishing NZ organises many beach cleanups, like this one at Petone beach near Wellington. (File photo)

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* Litter by Little: Alan Samson walks every day to collect litter, and says others could too

* Some people don't just litter, they litter boats

* Kiwi grandmothers pick fight against roadside litter

* Condoms, razor blades and syringes raise concerns**

'It is getting worse, people are consuming more in New Zealand. We're the 10th largest consumer of waste in the world [per capita], which is gnarly.'

Increasing consumption as individuals was causing the litter problem, he said.

At this Christchurch Countdown store, individual plastic bags for loose bakery items were used in the same week the Government announced it was phasing out single-use plastic bags across the country.

'We can actually reduce it as consumers first, before intervention from the Government.'

Howitt said as single-use plastics had become a part of daily life, people had developed an 'unhealthy culture' relying on it.

'The issue is urgent and increasing as we consume more plastic. I think there's a massive increase in concern for how we're going to change it.'

In the 2017/18 National Litter Survey paper items, snack food packaging and other plastic packaging were among the top categories found.

'They're made to be used once, and they're useless after that.'

The real issue was the 'convenience culture' and 'throwaway' attitude people relied on, he said.

About 75 per cent of what Sustainable Coastlines found on beaches was single-use plastic.

'Right at the top of that is an unfortunately vague category called plastics of unknown origin.'

Plastics of unknown origin are small fragments of broken plastic items, which had deteriorated and broken down with some time, which could have already been in the sea for decades.

The Wellington Underwater Club photographed this starfish on a plastic bottle.

Howitt said they often called the plastic fragments 'plastic sand'.

The next most common offender was plastic food wrap for items such as pies, potato chips, lollies, lollipops, and muesli bars.

The third greatest category for beach waste was bottle caps and lids, the fourth was polystyrene packaging and the fifth most common offender was plastic bags, he said.

Small pieces of plastic litters the coast at Evans Bay in Wellington. This photo was taken on the day of the Government's bag phase-out announcement.

'Plastic sand' could be found on any beach in New Zealand, he said.

They had found extreme cases of it at Evans Bay, which bore the brunt of Wellington's trash, he said.

'If anyone litters on the streets in Wellington it makes its way down that drain and goes in to the harbour and then it's blown in to Evans Bay.

'Once it was more plastic than beach.'

Ghost Fishing NZ founder and leader Rob Wilson said divers had recovered mopeds, TVs, mattresses, bikes, laptops, cellphones, fishing gear, and car batteries from the deep.

Wilson said most of it wasn't accidental - it was dumped straight in the sea.

Littered coffee cup lids and bottle caps were travelling the drains from the streets and turning up on the South Coast in Wellington, he said.

To boot, Wellington Harbour was inundated with bottles - in June, their divers collected 971 bottles in just one hour.

Keep New Zealand Beautiful chief executive officer Heather Saunderson said in the 1970s and 1980s, reducing litter was a massive topic in New Zealand, but it had now become a behaviour issue.

'We really need to focus on putting that 'be a tidy Kiwi' mantra back in to education.' About 93 per cent of land litter would end up in the sea, she said. Recycling education also needed to be improved, she said.

The Packaging Forum spokeswoman Lyn Mayes said people would see litter on the side of the road, and would feel licensed to litter too.

However, if people saw others picking up litter it could have a 'stadium effect', a feeling that dropping trash was wrong, she said.

The 'most littered' items of 2018

Cigarette butts 27 per cent

Gum 26.3 per cent

Paper and cardboard 11.9 per cent

Plastic film wrappers 7.2 per cent

Foil wrappers 6.4 per cent

Glass fragments 3.7 per cent

A mountain bike dumped in Wellington Harbour, also recovered by Ghost Fishing NZ.

A personal computer which had been dumped in Wellington Harbour.

Food goo 3.0 per cent

Metal caps and tabs 2.6 per cent

Plastic bits (unidentifiable) 2.1 per cent

Plastic cutlery/straws 1.6 per cent

Source: Clean Communities Assessment Tool (CCAT) survey conducted by Be a Tidy Kiwi.

PICK, PIC AND BIN

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We'll update the gallery daily to recognise all the good sorts making a difference.

Captions should include your name, along with location and date of rubbish pick-up. And please add any other information you think relevant or interesting. Email us at wellington@stuff.co.nz