We urge Countdown to AVOID offering single-use disposable plastic bags in their new store on Belgium Street, Ostend, Waiheke.
As we progress toward Zero-Waste, Waiheke Island visitors and residents want plastic-bag free shops as an immediate step.
Why is this important?
Single-use disposable plastic bags are not recycled and although often reused, they pollute and poison the marine and land environment and negatively impact human and animal health.
The ingestion of plastic in the Hauraki Gulf and beyond seriously threatens turtles, whales, sea birds and myriad other creatures. Plastic bags take several hundred years to break down leaving microscopic pieces of highly toxic plastic in the environment as they fissure. Toxicity from plastic components has been scientifically linked to metabolic disorders and threats to fertility in humans and sea creatures.
Stopping the use of single-use disposable plastic bags is a relatively easy way we can make a positive difference.
