Takeaway Throwaways seeks Government regulation to incentivise reuse systems and make them a normal part of our social infrastructure. However, as everyday humans, we don’t have to wait for Government or businesses before we act. Below are alternatives that you can start putting into practice from today to normalise the reuse culture. Please remember, the pressure is not on you, but you CAN apply the pressure.
BYO Reusables With You
The easiest way to refuse single-use disposable serviceware is if you BYO reusable alternatives. Have them with you at all times so that you're prepared for all eventualities. No one wants to get caught out! Sound cumbersome? Doesn't have to be. Try making yourself up a Day Bag with a container, cutlery, and cup in it. Commit never to leave the house without it, just like you wouldn't leave without your phone and wallet. If you drive, keep a Day Bag in your car. If you cycle, keep a Day Bag in your pannier. If you walk, hang the Day Bag up by your coat and house keys so you don't forget it in the morning. You’re officially a super human. Well done.
Make Time To Stay?
Forgot a reusable cup, or just always on the go? Have your coffee in. It’s the simplest way to avoid single use and give yourself a break. Be part of your café community.
If you have to run (do you really?), grab a mug from home. Borrow a mug from a cafe with a mug library (and there are increasing numbers of these - see resources below) or from the staff room kitchen.
Borrow, Return, Repeat
Make use of systems that allow us to borrow reusables for trust or a deposit, like mug libraries, cup-cycling schemes at cafes, or plate and bowl lending schemes at festivals, events, and markets. There are many such systems already in operation around Aotearoa New Zealand, and many more are popping up. This country is not helpless when it comes to good, sensible, and ingenious ideas.
Use What You Have
You don’t have to go out and buy fancy new reusables – the world has plenty of options already. A bit of resourcefulness and commonsense is all we need to counter the world of takeaway throwaways.
Need a takeaway container? How about ice-cream containers, Tupperware, even bowls and plates from home, or whatever else you have. BYO cutlery from home, wrap them in a cloth napkin (or sew your own cutlery wrap!).
DIY Reusables
Don’t want to spend $20+ on a reusable coffee cup? A jar wrapped in twine, fabric or rubber bands does the trick. A beer cooler or a bandana? Giving extra lives to glass containers before they are recycled not only means avoiding single use waste, but also reduces energy used to recycle. We do not need to spend money to take immediate action.
Get Inventive
It’s what Aotearoa New Zealand is known for! Make do, repurpose, and upcycle. Chips in buckets, ice cream in keep cups - if you have suggestions, ideas, or examples of the alternatives to single use waste that you prefer, contact us by email or via our social media and we will share them!
Treat Yourself
For some of us, owning purpose-made reusables is the key: a ‘keep cup’, a set of travel cutlery, a water flask and a food container. There are many brands for sale that suit all budgets and almost all preferences and needs.
Keeping your reusables in a kete beside your keys so you remember them, washing them after use, and employing a rule that says ‘no kit, no take out kai’ can get us in a position to live the Takeaway Throwaways lifestyle today.
Role Model
By visibly using reusables on a daily basis, you can influence others and build the new normal. Sometimes just seeing an everyday human model another way of doing things is the simple spark someone needs to make change in their own life. Make a point of using your reusables when out and about. Maybe you’re the only person at the music gig with your wine in a jam jar? Maybe the person next to you on the plane noticed when you handed your own cup over for that complimentary coffee? Maybe the kid behind you in the queue at the sushi store noticed you putting your sushi into an ice cream container. Who knows, but the ripple effects can only be sweet.
An Important Note About Straws
We have excluded plastic straws from our list of items proposed for a ban. Some disabled people require plastic straws to drink, making a ban or restrictions on availability discriminatory. No reusable straw currently offers the same accessibility characteristics as a plastic straw. Furthermore, cleaning a straw after use is not always accessible either. These issues are discussed in more detail here, here, and here. Read more about our accessibility policy here.
Instead, we are encouraging people who do not need a plastic straw to drink, to refuse the straw or use a reusable straw instead. Takeaway Throwaways is not just about bans and government regulation. We’re also aiming to normalise a healthy reuse culture where all parts of society are active and included in creating a non-disposable future. Bans and regulations help to speed up this process, but where such measures are inappropriate, we can also draw on personal responsibility and common sense. We invite you to imagine how many fewer straws we’d go through if only those people who needed a single-use plastic straw to drink did so. The simple answer to single-use straws is not to use them if you do not need them.
Resources
The uyo responsible cafe guide website has ideas, information, and connections about all the items referred to in this section, including product guides for Aotearoa New Zealand artisan made travel cups, ideas for DIY cups, interviews with markets and cafes, and feed back from the reusing public.
Getting used to refusing single use is simpler than you might think. It takes a little planning, a little adjustment, but it’s so worth it. Something to remember always is that humans evolve - it’s what we do best - and businesses will find logical and unique ways, may be borrowing from the past, perhaps inventing a future, to ensure the customer is happy.
Examples of existing reuse systems - a small sample
In Aotearoa New Zealand, we already have companies providing cup loans, and a few start ups are working on bowl and plate solutions. We can be certain that with government support, business innovation will provide us with many, many more options.
This document is an easy to read, easy to take in, bright and breezy, dream guide to many of the reuse systems happening worldwide, including case studies. Well worth a look.https://www.newplasticseconomy.org/assets/doc/Reuse.pdf