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Campaign to tackle “gut wrenching” plastic problem
Greenpeace launches campaign to tackle “gut wrenching” plastic problem
Monday, July 31: Greenpeace is
throwing its weight behind the campaign to ban plastic bags
from New Zealand supermarkets.
Today, the
environmental group launched a new video and petition
calling on the Government to ban the bag.
Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B23mNmJ6mihwNkRxZjhwMkgyS1E/view?usp=sharing
It
follow the discovery of an enormous floating island of
plastic, eight times the size of New Zealand, in the South
Pacific.
The island has been dubbed as
“Plasticmania” by the children that appear in the
Greenpeace video.
Campaigner, Elena Di Palma, says New
Zealand’s plastic waste problem is quickly “spiralling
out of control”.
“Plastics in our oceans is a
massive unseen problem, and it’s our kids who will be left
to clean up the mess,” she says.
“Kiwis use around
1.6 billion bags per year. They are used for an average of
only 12 minutes, yet each one can take 1,000 years to
degrade. When you think about the implications of that,
it’s frightening.”
Greenpeace New Zealand’s
video launch comes off the back of an announcement by two
Australian supermarkets, Woolworths - a parent company of
Countdown - and Coles, that they will stop giving single-use
plastic bags to shoppers within the next
year.
Plastics have a devastating effect on marine
life. Fish, seabirds and other animals mistake the broken
down bits of plastic for food. The effects are serious, and
often lead to death.
Plastic bottle tops, balloons, plastic cutlery, and straws are some of the worst culprits.
Recent research shows that one-third of all
turtles that wash up on New Zealand beaches have died from
consuming plastic. Turtles are known to mistake plastic bags
for their favourite food - jellyfish - and swallowing the
plastic can be fatal for them.
Di Palma says many people around the country will have seen the recent “excruciating” scene on social media of a straw being extracted from a turtle’s nose.
“I found the turtle video gut wrenching and
difficult to watch,”she says.
“The children that
appear in the Greenpeace video have a clear understanding of
the magnitude of this problem. It’s these young people who
will inherit our oceans’ legacy”.
It’s estimated
that if we keep polluting at the current rate, there will be
more plastic than fish in the ocean within 33
years.
Many communities around New Zealand are
realising the seriousness of this unseen problem and taking
action.
“People everywhere are already doing their
bit, from sewing cloth bags to buying reusable coffee cups,
but now it’s time for the Government to step up and take
immediate action,” says Di Palma.
A complete ban on
plastic bags from supermarkets is the first step that must
be taken on the road to phasing out all single-use plastics,
she
says.
Ends
Greenpeace
Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice.
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.
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