Far North backs plastic free July
If you forget your reusable bags in Paihia, it won’t matter soon, with a new Focus Paihia initiative to provide ‘Boomerang Bags’.
Boomerang Bags - originally an Australian concept - encourages groups to make reusable bags out of old materials such as curtains and clothing and leave them at supermarkets and other locations to reduce the need for plastic bags.
The bags are returned later, hence the boomerang name.
Paihia business owner and Boomerang Bags project driver Sarah Greener says the restaurants she owns had been reducing plastic straw use and encouraging a move to reusable takeaway coffee cups.
‘‘I thought what else can we do, and someone told me about Boomerang Bags,’’ she says.
‘‘The organisation provided a step by step process on how to create the bags and put me in touch with a New Zealand screen printing company.’’
The bags will be made from donated old clothes, curtains, linen and other old, clean materials.
Then the material will be sewn together at a workshop on July 29 during Plastic Free July.
The project is an initiative supported by Focus Paihia, with the ultimate goal to make the town plastic free.
‘‘The workshops could be once a month, and we need sewing machines, an overlocker, irons and ironing boards’’ Greener says.
‘‘We have to look after our environment, it’s an asset.’’
Paihia Four Square owner Scott Jackson says during winter, 300 plastic bags are used daily, with double that amount used during summer days.
‘‘That’s a lot of bags, which is not good for our environment,’’ Jackson says.
A bin of Boomerang Bags will be at his store.
Kaitaia businesses and the Far North Environment Centre (EcoCentre) have also got behind Plastic Free July.
Whanau Meats in Kaitaia is holding a prize draw on August 1 for those who brought in plastic containers during July.
And the EcoCentre will be holding a plastic free shared lunch for people to share their experiences of Plastic Free July and the challenges they faced trying to keep to their plastic free kaupapa.
❚ Plastic free shared lunch at Kaitaia EcoCentre, South Road, on July 29.