It’s in THE BAG!
Reusable totes are the new way
Ten years ago, a Victoria University thesis reported that Kiwis use more than a billion plastic bags every year. Today, plastic packaging seems to be more prevalent than ever. So what can we do?
Most of us are usually in a rush when we go to the supermarket. It’s often on our way home from work and we may or may not have remembered to pop those reusable shopping bags in the boot. We’ll have to get in the habit, though, because times they are a changin’.
Most of us want to do right by Mother Earth, but we need to change our habits to make it happen. What are simple ways we can do good things for the planet when we’re grocery shopping?
Kiri Hannifin, Countdown’s General Manager of Corporate Affairs and a mum-of-two, has some insider tips and clever shopping hacks.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Reducing plastic in the produce and deli sections is still a work in progress, but if you want to make a head-start now, take “naked vegetables” up to the checkout to be weighed and packed in your own bag, and take your own container to the deli.
The days of plasticwrapped bananas are gone, but veges such as cucumbers are covered in a sealed plastic wrap because if anything accidentally pierces their skins, they’re not sellable. “It’s a balance between hygiene, food safety and longevity,” says Kiri.
Plastics that can be scrunched up in your hand – including the existing single-use shopping bags and produce bags – are recyclable through Countdown’s soft-plastic bins, available throughout most of New Zealand. These plastics can’t be recycled by council centres as they jam up machinery.
To remember to take your soft plastics to be recycled, place them in your reusable shopping bags and have them ready to go.
Many items in harder shell plastic – such as small capsicums and cupcakes – are packed in casings made by Wellington company Flight. These guys use recycled plastic to make the packaging, which is then able to be recycled. “It’s a cool Kiwi company doing the right thing,” tells Kiri.