Huge Wanaka support for plastic bag charges

GetReal and Sustainable Wanaka will host a car park party outside New World on Monday morning to celebrate an end to free plastic bags. Wanaka New World will start charging 5 cents for plastic bags from Monday morning, along with all other New World and Pak'n'Save stores around the country.
 
A survey of 85 shoppers conducted by Sustainable Wanaka in the past two weeks found that 87% of people supported shops charging for plastic bags. 89% of people thought more retailers charging for plastic bags would be good for New Zealand's environment. The same number would be more likely to support a store with a good environmental policy.

"We were delighted to see such strong support for the end to free plastic bags, and so we decided to throw a party” said Sustainable Wanaka general manager Sophie Ward.

Sophie has been campaigning for three years to reduce plastic bag use. "Wanaka did well to get to 40% of shoppers saying no to plastic bags, but then we reached a plateau."

"We realised that we couldn't go any further on our own, so we joined forces with other environmental groups to get the GetReal campaign off the ground, and that's what made the difference.”

Dean Bartley, store manager Wanaka New World, said he was supportive of the move to start charging for plastic bags. The proceeds from the plastic bag charges will go to Keep NZ Beautiful. 

"It's a great thing for the environment, and definitely a step in the right direction. It is a huge positive for the community and New Zealand.”

GetReal spokesperson, Gwilym Griffith-Jones, said the introduction of the 5 cent charge was likely to make a big difference to people's behavior.

"One of the GetReal plastic bag campaigners, Angus Ho, is in HongKong at the moment, and he said HongKong has seen an 80% reduction in plastic bag use as the result of their new plastic bag levy.”

Gwilym said the transition away from free plastic bags will be quite easy for Wanaka, because the town is already halfway there.

"If people want to make an extra effort, they could encourage family and friends in other towns to support Foodstuffs by shopping at New World and Pak'n'Save supermarkets."

"Progressive is letting the country down with their refusal to take action on plastic bags."
 
"They've chosen a wait and see approach, and it would be great if they could get a clear message that it's time to stop giving away free plastic bags. "People may dismiss plastic bags as a small part of the pollution problem, but we have found that consumers react well to businesses who make efforts reduce waste. Successes like these reinforce this behaviour."

"This is not only a win for our lakes, roadsides and coastline, but for those ingenious Kiwi businesses that are bringing environmental packaging and products to market."

Images from this action can be found here....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97821&id=90102664645

ENDS

Sophie Ward:    021 0239 5498
Gwilym Griffith-Jones: 443 1900