FAQs for humans

+ Who can sign the petition?

Anyone. Of any age. Have you signed it yet? Check it out here.

+ What is the Takeaway throwaways campaign seeking to achieve?

Two things, really. First, we’re asking the Government to begin actively transitioning Aotearoa New Zealand from a linear throwaway economy towards a circular, reuse economy, using food and drink serviceware as the first test case. We want disposables phased-out and reusables phased-in, following a well thought out strategy, approach, and timeline. We’re asking the Government to do this using powers they already have under s 23 of the Waste Minimisation Act 2008. You can read more about what we’re asking the Government to do here.

The Takeaway Throwaways campaign is also seeking to encourage individuals, communities, and businesses to play their part in ditching single-use disposable serviceware and normalising a reuse culture. Government action is only one ingredient for success, and that ingredient is not going to happen overnight. In the meantime, there’s a lot we can all do to make a difference. Check out our resources, tips, and ideas for what you can do right now in The Alternatives.

+ What is section 23 of the Waste Minimisation Act?

Section 23 is one of 99 sections of the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (WMA) - Aotearoa New Zealand’s main law governing waste. Section 23 contains a bunch of pretty magical regulation-making powers. Remember the Government’s bans on plastic shopping bags and micro-beads in personal care products & cleaning products? Both were done using s 23. Actually, those are the only times s 23 has ever been used.

But, s 23 is so much more than a blunt banning tool. It also empowers the Government to implement positive, proactive measures for a less wasteful future, including incentivising and mandating reusables. We want to see the Government use these positive powers too. Read more about s 23.

+ If the Government decides to adopt the petition’s requests, what will happen?

Changes won’t come overnight - there’s a process. The Takeaway Throwaways petition calls for the Minister to make regulations under s 23. Before the Minister can do this, they must consult with those affected, i.e. the public, the hospitality industry, the packaging industry, and other groups and organisations. If, after consultation, the Government decides to go ahead, the approach to phase-outs and reuse schemes will need to be designed. Our petition recommends that a Government-mandated working group does this. Such a group would feature key stakeholders, including representatives from the hospitality industry, the disabled community, reusable packaging and serviceware businesses, and zero waste NGOs. Apart from designing the policy, this working group would consider what funding, infrastructure, and systems are required to support the transition to reusables (such as dishwashing/sterilisation facilities, and fleets of reusable crockery and cutlery), and the phase-in period for the regulations. A staged phase-in is likely, including a temporary period where single-use disposables will still be available, but with a compulsory fee attached to them and so on.

+ What do you mean by ‘accessible, reusable systems’?

Accessible means that the reusable alternatives and the systems to deliver them can be used on an equal basis by anyone. Mobility, wealth, and location must not limit a person’s ability to access an alternative to single use plastic takeaway throwaways. Those factors should also not limit a person’s ability to actively respect their planet. We must all have the tools to live ethical choices, for the good of all life, in the present and the future. Read more about accessibility and inclusion here.

Aotearoa New Zealand already has some reuse/loan systems on the go! Check out our (ever growing!) list of reuse schemes that operate both here and overseas if you'd like to learn more. They mostly involve customers paying a deposit (some do not require any deposit from customers) to borrow a cup, bowl, plate, or container from the food provider, then returning it later either to the same vendor, or to another cafe who are involved in the same scheme, or even just dropping it into a conveniently located collection ‘machine’.

+ Where can i read more about reuse systems?

This document by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation gives an insight into many of the reuse systems happening worldwide, including case studies - well worth a look.. We also recommend this good and easy read to learn about terminology, systems, and benefits of reuse that are happening, or are under review, internationally.

+ What Can I Do Today?

Get into the reusable mindset! Whenever you’re out and about, take a ‘day bag’ containing a reusable cup, container, cutlery, water flask, chopsticks etc. A day bag means you only have ONE thing to remember instead of TEN.

The more you BYO reusables, the more confidence the hospitality industry has to let go of single use products, and trust our loyalty. If you are a parent, raise your small humans to see that this is just the way things are!

+ WHAT IF I FORGET MY REUSABLES?

Forgetting is the most common reason people end up with single-use rubbish. So, pledge to refuse single-use, and make it a habit to remember your reusables. It takes roughly 21 goes to make something a habit. In the meantime, you’ll sometimes forget… if you find yourself in that situation:

• Sit in: take a moment to eat your food sitting in, rather than on the run
• Borrow from the cafe if they have a mug library or cup/tub loan system
• Consider if you can go without (e.g. no cup = no coffee - this one is REALLY motivating)
• Second hand shop close by? Grab a reusable for a gold coin or less

+ What about plastic straws? Don’t some people need them?

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, and here, and here. For everyone else who doesn’t need a plastic straw to drink, we encourage you to refuse a straw entirely or choose a reusable option that works for you. We aren’t fans of paper straws or compostable plastic straws - not only are they single-use, but if they get binned instead of composted, they go to landfill where they produce methane in the anaerobic conditions. Double loss.

+ Why Can’t We Just Use Compostable Cups And Packaging?

Takeaway Throwaways promotes a move away from single-use towards reuse. Compostable disposable serviceware is still single-use, requiring ongoing energy and resources to produce. Crops and trees are grown (often using synthetic fertilisers, genetically modified crops, toxic pesticides/herbicides or unsustainable forestry practices), harvested, processed, shipped to factories, processed into packaging items, packed (often in non-recyclable single-use soft plastic and more cardboard boxes), shipped around the world, used once, and then thrown away. Furthermore, after we’ve used these products, getting them composted is not simple. Many require commercial composting, but NZ lacks separate collection systems for compostable packaging and we only have a limited number of commercial compost facilities (many of which don’t even accept compostable packaging). If compostable serviceware is chucked in a bin, it goes to landfill where it produces methane in the anaerobic conditions.

+ What single use items are included in this campaign?

The petition text encompasses single-use disposable plastic serviceware for food and drink, including those made of degradable, biodegradable, or compostable plastic. That will be things like coffee cups with bio-based plastic (e.g. PLA) or oil based plastic lining, cold cups (again, lined or those see-through smoothie and juice cups made from PLA etc), sushi trays, plastic or PLA plastic cup lids, containers, plastic or ‘eco’ plastic cutlery (including eco composites that can be part bio-based plastic and part oil-based plastic), sachets, and individual condiment pottles (like those used for butter and sauce, and those cursed soy fish!). We are asking the Government to help use remove all these items, and to encourage innovation and support schemes that can replace them with reusable alternatives.

+ if Takeaway Throwaways succeeds and regulation goes through, can I still order my beloved Ubereats?!

Do. Not. Fret. As with all methods of taking food away, we are asking for our government to work with support folks like Deliver Easy and UberEats in the switch to reusable container deliveries, allowing them to deliver your single-use-packaging-free food. This has happened successfully in other parts of the world, and everyone survived! Have a look at the examples below? This will give you some idea of how things could look in Aotearoa New Zealand. And if a system can work in a city with 8 million people, it can work (with some tweaking) in a country with less than 5 million.

+ How do I get movie snacks?

Simply bring your own vessel to contain your popcorn. This may seem strange at first, but the more often we all do it, well, that’s how normal becomes normal.

+ What if I do not want to spend money on reusables?

Providing alternatives that are accessible to everyone is a vital part of this campaign. Vital. Schemes around the world (and some exist in Aotearoa New Zealand already) that avoid single use in favour of a circular system often involve a deposit - you get your few dollars back.

Of course, if you wish to be independent, reusables are not revolutionary; we use them at home everyday! Bring your stainless steel cutlery with you, wrapped in a tea towel or cloth. Reuse jars as takeaway containers, reuse takeaway containers again and again when you get food out. If you are popping out for a take out lunch from the office, walk there with a bowl or plate. Take a hint from the cup making question above, and voila: you’ve got your reusable tool kit all ready to go! You don’t have to buy a thing. If all else fails, you could also make time to stay and ‘have here’ rather than taking away.

+ How Do I Make My Own Cup?

Please realise you don’t need to purchase a reusable coffee mug to live your single-use-free values. Do you have a jar handy? With some imagination, some string, fabric, a beer cooler, the top of a sock even…

+ WHy do we have to ban things or set up reuse systems? People are already able to BYO serviceware for takeaways if they want to?

If voluntary behaviour change were enough to get us over the line, everyone would already be using reusable serviceware, rather than accepting disposables for takeaway food and drink. Unfortunately, for as long as throwaways remain an option, we’ll keep using them, just like we did with plastic shopping bags. We believe a ban, alongside real measures to scale-up the reusable alternatives, is needed.

A mandatory phase-out of single-use disposable food and drink packaging is also a question of opportunity-cost: the time, energy, and resources that community groups and NGOs currently pour into encouraging people to choose reusables over disposables is time, energy, and resources that could be put elsewhere. Meanwhile, businesses and cafes that choose to stick their neck out and get rid of throwaways fear a competitive disadvantage against those that don’t pull finger. We need the Government to step in, show community groups they’ve got their back, and level the playing field for business.

+ Can’t we just recycle?

Our recycling systems are mostly broken, and even if they were working, recycling pollutes, creates waste, and uses massive amounts of energy. Recycling is what we do when we’ve failed to prevent and reduce waste, or reuse resources. Anyway, single-use disposable serviceware for food and drink are often not recyclable because they’re made of multiple layers of different materials (like paper and cardboard lined with plastic), or they’re food contaminated. Furthermore, even if they were recyclable, they’re generally used outside of the home where recycling bins are less easy to find, so end up in general rubbish bins and landfill.

+ what will the benefits be for me?

Less waste. A cleaner planet. These are the big environmental benefits, but there is also the potential for huge social change. That is one of the many hopeful and important aspects of addressing specifically these single use items. They encourage us to change our way of thinking.

Firstly, there’s the waking up to personal responsibility. Learning to refuse single use when we eat out often flicks an awareness switch. That sense of satisfaction, at our own success in taking responsibility, makes us proud of ourselves, and confident enough to face up to other areas in our lives where we know we should do better. All of a sudden, a less wasteful life is attainable, not in the too hard, can’t be bothered, basket. It wakes us up to the reality that real change comes from in here, and that we are capable as well as culpable. It is up to us. Our future. Our behaviour. And it feels good to own it.

Secondly, (and this is good news for our society in so many ways) we have permission to slow down, and to make time to stay. We have the opportunity to speak to each other more than the perfunctory order and pay for a coffee to go. We become locals. More and more of us begin to belong, and when we feel belonging, we care. We care about how our behaviour effects each other; we are no longer strangers. As human beings, we have an instinct to protect our own, and making time to stay expands who we consider to be our own. We are together.

Many coffee carts and food caravans are on to this, and provide mug libraries or loans or jam jars, benches, bean bags and dog water bowls, so folks can spend a little time.

Tourists and travellers are also able to engage. Cafes filled with people are a safe and ready space to soak up the essence of a community, encouraging visitors to treat the land of these people that they have spent time amongst with increased respect. It sends the message: in Aotearoa New Zealand we care about each other.

Thirdly, in today’s climate of rushing to succeed and hurry, and “I can’t stop and have to be somewhere”, making time to stay says something huge too. It says we can stop. We can stop having to prove we are busy. Our cafes can be safe places to connect, to break free of the notions that rapid movement and fluster and bluster is a desirable or healthy way to live.

A sign on Aotearoa New Zealand that says “we no longer serve takeaway throwaways - please take time to stay here with us” is not just a waste avoidance policy, it’s palpable advocacy for mental health and emotional wellbeing. It gives us permission to be human and rest a while. Together. So, what could the benefits be for us? The potential to grow a truly wholesome community that takes responsibility for its own waste, sure, but for its people. People will come here, knowing that taking time to breathe and connect with the community is becoming, once again, the norm. That artificial pressure to fly around or fly through is not championed here. Aotearoa New Zealand is beautiful. And here, you can stop and smell the coffee.