Mon 1 July 19.
With Plastic Free July 2019 coinciding with the official ban of single use plastic bags by retailers Ruapehu Waste Minimisation Educator Emily Jasmine is encouraging people to think about what other single use plastics they could do without.
It has been fantastic to see so many people around Ruapehu enthusiastically supporting the ban on single use plastic bags by retailers and being more than happy to bring along their own reusable bag when shopping, she said.
We now all need to all start thinking about what other reusable items such as cups for our coffee and containers for food we can use instead of the single use packaging these usually come in.
Most all Ruapehu cafs actively support people bringing their own re-useable cup for takeaway coffees and many food retailers are also happy if you bring your own container.
By making small changes to our everyday habits we can collectively all make a huge difference.
Emily said that people should join the Plastic Free July Challenge a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution.
We all want to have cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities and getting these starts with the individual decisions and actions we all take.
All you need to do is go to www.plasticfreejuly.org and click on the "Yes! I will take the challenge!" link where you find heaps of resources and ideas to reduce single-use plastics waste every day at home, work, school or wherever else you happen to be.
Council will also be holding a series of Plastic Free July and other workshops where people can learn to reduce their use of single-use plastics and learn other waste minimisation skills.
These include Boomerang Bags making reusable bags out of donated fabric, sustainable sewing workshops where you can choose to make baby beanies out of merino off-cuts donated by Opus Fresh Apparel plus workshops on Cooking from Scratch and making beeswax wraps and no sew bags.
Anyone wanting more info on any of these should see Council's website www.ruapehudc.govt.nz (link from Zero Waste 2040 on homepage) or Facebook page or they can call me on 895 8188 or 027 203 1247
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