Litter by Little: Aim for at least one less piece of plastic daily, Sustainable Coastlines say

Sunday, 23 September 2018

Sustainable Coastlines suggests aiming to use at least one less piece of plastic daily to reduce litter.

In the latest in our Litter by Little series, Amber-Leigh Woolf looks at what people can do to help reduce the amount of plastic they consume.

One in three turtles recovered in New Zealand has died or is sick from eating plastic, so how can we change it?

Those who are cleaning our beaches and pulling trash out of waterways say everyone needs to reduce their waste - and clean up after themselves.

Sustainable Coastlines co-founder and lead Camden Howitt said if everyone picked up a piece of rubbish each day, it would make a difference.

**READ MORE:

Howitt said if everyone picked up a piece of trash each day, it would make a difference. But also, people needed to be using one less piece of plastic daily, he said.

* Litter by Little: Pick up a piece and join the 'Litterati'

* Litter by little: Muritai School shows how easy it is to pick up a piece of litter a day

* Litter by little: From Mexico to Japan, New Zealand could learn from cleaner countries

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

But on top of that, people also needed to be using or buying at least one less piece of plastic daily, he said.

'Go out there and consume one less piece of plastic everyday.

Sustainable Coastlines co-founder Camden Howitt said plastic only became popular after WWI, and it was only in recent years consumers were returning to the alternatives.

'You've got to look at both sides of the equation, and that's to reduce our use of plastic, and understand not everything goes away and it has an infinite life.'

Hundreds of New Zealanders were already living nearly waste free, some can fit their entire month's rubbish in a small jar.

Howitt said the 'unhealthy culture' and reliance on plastic was already changing for the better.

Plastic became hugely popular in the middle of the 20th century, but it's only been the past decade or so that a significant number of people started to notice the harm it could cause.

Last year, Auckland Zoo found 106 pieces of plastic inside an endangered Hawksbill turtle.

Now, people were turning to so-called 'alternatives', which were really just what people had used before plastic came around, Howitt said.

Ghost Fishing NZ founder and leader Rob Wilson said he suspected some people might not have the time, the money, or the transport to take their items to the tip, so they throw it all in the sea instead.

Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage said she doesn't think littering is 'the Kiwi way', and we can do better.

Everyone needed better education, he said.

'I found a few kids in Houghton Bay [on Wellington's south coast] throwing road cones in to the sea.

'I said to them that this is a marine area, which is actually being protected for you.'

People didn't realise that their trash tossed on city streets would end up in the harbour, among other things, he said.

Unless people started to individually make changes in their daily life, litter would simply continue to accumulate, he said.

Change could be hard for people, he said.

'It's really difficult to make the change to not buying single-use plastic at the supermarket. It's hard but it will make a big difference.'

Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage said if littering became a social normality, then it was a risk.

Reducing waste, re-using, recycling more and ensuring all waste was in the correct bin was key, Sage said.

Everyone could make a difference by picking up litter, she said.

'If this saves one seabird or turtle and helps keep our neighbourhoods as pleasant places to live then it's a worthwhile effort.'

Work is starting to monitor the amount of trash New Zealanders are littering.

In February 2019, Keep New Zealand Beautiful will start a national litter survey, and all territorial authorities would take part in over six months of research.

It would be repeated every three years to gauge the extent of the litter problem

Sustainable Coastlines are also working on a citizen-science project to establish a national litter database alongside Ministry for the Environment, Department of Conservation and Statistics New Zealand.

10 WAYS TO USE ONE LESS PIECE OF PLASTIC DAILY**

1. Stop using plastic straws

2. Take re-usable bags to the grocery store

3. Say no to chewing gum

4. Eat in instead of takeaway

5. Or, ask for the food to be served in your own container

6. Choose food which isn't individually wrapped

7. Buy in bulk

8. Bring a KeepCup or reusable coffee cup to cafes

9. Buy an item in glass, instead of plastic

10. Look for products in boxes instead of plastic

PICK, PIC AND BIN

Please join us in making our environment a cleaner, better place. Pick up some litter, email us a photo and caption, and join the Litterati Photo Gallery.

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