Some positive talk at last

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Discovered two great articles today, with some positive talk about changes happening already (with much more to do, of course):

One really interesting quote about plastic wrapped cucumbers; it isn't as easy as one might think to just say "Stop doing that!"
Take a cucumber wrapped in plastic. Ridiculous, right? 
Not so, says Paul Evans, CEO of industry body WasteMINZ. “Everyone goes ‘this is terrible, it’s unnecessary.’ But that plastic is necessary to extend the life of the cucumber, shield it from bruises, protect it during transport and keep it safe from contaminants,” he says.
“People don’t realise that wasting that cucumber is far more environmentally damaging than the bit of plastic around it. It’s had water and energy put into it, it’s been transported to market – maybe from overseas – so there are emissions associated with it. Then when it degrades, it goes to a landfill and creates methane. People go ‘oh, it’s just a bit of food’, but there are impacts associated with that.”
I'm really impressed with Foodstuffs initiative in talking to the suppliers. That's exactly where we have to stop the supply of un-recyclables entering the waste system. Our own local Countdown supermarket is also doing good things, including the elimination of polystyrene meat and food trays, replacing them with PET Type 1 trays. Excellent work.

What we really need now is stronger leadership from government. A proper policy to severely reduce the use of un-recyclable plastics in NZ. "Education programmes" and a "national litter database" aren't enough. The government could easily put out a proclamation that un-recyclable plastic is no longer welcome in this country. Stop using plastic types 3 – 7.

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