Creating accessible alternatives that work for everyone…
A low-waste future cannot be sustainable unless it is accessible. Ensuring that alternatives to single-use are functional for everyone, is vital for the Takeaway Throwaways campaign. Reuse systems that are inclusive, benefit everyone.
What do we mean by accessibility?
Accessibility enables all people to access an item, system, facilities, or services on an equal basis (modified from Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Art. 9). Accessibility means that reusable alternatives to single-use disposable serviceware can be easily used by people with disabilities, are affordable, and functional for people of all ages.
Why is this relevant to Takeaway Throwaways?
Often single-use disposable serviceware has accessibility-friendly characteristics that afford people with functionality and independence in their daily lives. For example, disposables are often cheap (or free) and widely available, ensuring economic accessibility. Additionally, disposable options have lids or covers to avoid spillage, are less heavy to hold, and less likely to conduct heat, which creates an accessible experience for members of our community who are disabled, as well as young children or older people. These accessibility benefits must be seriously considered when developing any mandatory reuse system, product, or ban of single-use disposable serviceware, to ensure policies are inclusive and sustainable in the long-term.
We believe environmental outcomes will always work best when in harmony with accessibility. The Takeaway Throwaways vision is that Aotearoa New Zealand adopts well-designed and functional reuse systems using reusable alternatives that replicate or exceed the accessibility characteristics of disposables. This can only happen by listening to and working with communities who use disposable serviceware for accessibility purposes, to ensure reusable alternatives balance environmental outcomes with the need to maintain accessibility and uphold the best practices of universal design.
Not all single-use serviceware is avoidable for everyone now
Takeaway Throwaways aims to accelerate a reuse culture that is both environmentally healthy and accessible. For most items, this can be achieved by banning single-use items and promoting inclusive reusables. However, not all items have an accessible, reusable alternative yet. And for others that do, transitioning well will take time.
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 and an infringement on some people’s self-agency. 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.
Shane Burcaw a wheelchair user with spinal muscular atrophy sums it up
“We understand that reducing the amount of straws that we use as a planet is very important. We believe that we should reduce the amount of straws that we use - no more straws for fun…. But there are some people who really rely on them.”
Recognising this reality and the importance of enabling every person self-agency over food and drink, the Takeaway Throwaways campaign favours a non-regulatory approach to straws that encourages 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.
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. Sticking to this commitment means plastic straws can continue to be easily available, no questions asked, in cafes, bars and elsewhere, for those who really do need them.
Bans only phased-in when accessible reusables are ready
Unlike for straws, some reusable alternatives to other types of disposable serviceware can be accessible. However, because we currently lack effective reuse systems that make these reusable options readily available and affordable, disposable products often serve an otherwise unmet accessibility need.
Thus, before a ban is implemented on single-use disposable plastic serviceware, co-designed, accessible reuse systems must be in place to ensure reusable alternatives are widely and easily available. This will ensure no time period occurs where people are left without accessible options and thus discriminated against. We recommend that the regulations under s 23 of the Waste Minimisation Act are scheduled so that single-use disposables are phased-out alongside the phase-in of co-designed, accessible reusable alternatives to ensure the regulatory measures overlap.
Temporary or permanent exemptions may be appropriate for certain sectors
Currently, single-use disposable serviceware is used throughout the health and social services sectors, including hospitals, food banks, and aged care support. Reusable alternatives may not always be safe or appropriate in these contexts, or they may take longer to implement, or may be possible in some areas and not others. Ultimately, representatives from these sectors must be involved in the co-design and execution of any reuse schemes (see below), to determine what systems and alternative products function best for their sector, and what level of funding and support may be necessary. It may be the case that exemptions for certain sectors are deemed necessary. The Takeaway Throwaways campaign believes the best way to determine this is through a thorough and inclusive design process that authentically and meaningfully considers the viewpoints of all stakeholders.
Accessible reuse systems should be co-designed and funded
Takeaway Throwaways calls on the Government to implement regulations under s 23 of the WMA to mandate reusable alternatives to disposable serviceware. Any such regulation must expressly require that reuse systems be accessible and built to meaningfully uphold and execute the principle of ‘universal design’, that is, design “usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design” (Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Art 2).
Key accessibility considerations for reuse alternatives
Accessibility considerations for reusable alternatives fall into two separate, but connected and equally important, categories. Both must be carefully planned for:
The accessibility of the reusable products themselves, i.e. what kinds of cups, containers, and cutlery are used.
The accessibility of how the scheme runs, i.e. easy to access and return reusable takeaway alternatives (not an expectation of BYO only), affordability of the deposit for ‘lending’ the reusables, and responsibility for cleaning the product after use.
People with access needs are experts on accessibility and must be included in the design of any reuse scheme
Rather than designing the scheme within Government or leaving it to the market or individual product designers, we recommend the Government mandate a design process for reuse systems (similar to the current container return scheme working group), which includes the active and fully resourced participation of the disabled community, the elderly, representatives for young children, and those from the health and social services sectors, among other stakeholders.
In the meantime, in the absence of regulation, any businesses currently looking to institute reuse schemes independently, and especially businesses making reusable products, should meaningfully work with people with access needs, including those with disabilities, to find and develop the most accessible solutions possible, achieving both universal design and environmental wellbeing.
Affordability is key
Disposables are generally given out for free. Transitioning to reusables is likely to involve a temporary period where a small fee attaches to throwaways before they’re phased out entirely (see the City of Berkeley approach). Furthermore, any reuse system is likely to involve upfront set-up costs, such as the cost of fleets of reusables, and return and cleaning infrastructure. The scheme design process must consider any financial implications of the transition towards reusables and ensure that these costs are equally distributed among the population. Achieving this may require the use of economic incentives for businesses and/or targeted Government funding. Furthermore, involving social services in the design process who are likely to be impacted by the regulations, such as food banks or in-house meal services, is crucial.