Why we need to do this.
Why not recycle? Why not compostable? Why the fuss about takeaway packaging? Here, we talk it through…
There’s No Future In Single Use
There’s no future in single-use; and that includes single-use takeaway packaging. We have to find a better alternative that protects our planet’s resources, minimises emissions and resource use, and connects communities. Reuse is the way forward, and takeaway packaging is the perfect place to start!
What’s wrong with single-use?
Aotearoa New Zealand has a waste problem.
We’re one of the world’s most wasteful countries, per capita (OECD 2018; World Bank 2018). In the last decade, our waste sent to landfill rose by 45 percent (Ministry for the Environment, 2019, p.14). We’re following a pattern of extracting resources from the Earth, turning it into stuff that we use for a short time, then chucking it in landfill and starting the process again. Single-use products are a hallmark of this way of doing things.
The technical term for this is the ‘linear economy’, and it’s unsustainable.
The linear economy is a waste-producing machine that accelerates carbon emissions and resource depletion by driving us to endlessly extract and manufacture new resources, products, and stuff, rather than conserving and reusing what we already have (Circle Economy, 2020). This ‘make-use-chuck’ system also creates a lot of opportunities for pollution to escape our waste management systems and end up in places it shouldn’t – like the soil, waterways, beaches, the ocean.
With all the waste in the world, why focus on takeaway packaging?
1. Single-use disposable serviceware belongs to the outdated ‘take-make-dispose’ linear economy.
Designed to be used once for a few minutes, then thrown away - you can’t get more linear than that. These products require natural resources to create and transport, including fossil fuels, trees, bamboo, corn, and water. Is it really worth all this? Once thrown out, takeaway packaging goes straight into a hole in the ground (landfill) to contribute to toxic leachate (from the additives in the plastic) and methane production (from the paper, cardboard or compostable layers breaking down anaerobically).
2. Single-use disposable serviceware is Prominent in the litter stream.
Not all throwaway food and drink serviceware makes it to landfill; a percentage escapes to pollute the natural environment, making up a sizeable proportion of commonly littered items, by volume, item count, and weight. See for example, the Keep New Zealand Beautiful, National Litter Audit, 2019, Waste Not Consulting, National Litter Survey Litter Field Count, 2017/2018, Greenpeace New Zealand Plastic Free NZ Action Plan (p.2), International Coastal Cleanup 2017 Report (p.13), and Better Alternatives Now: BAN List 2.0, pp.6-7.
3. Targeting Single-use disposable serviceware has real and symbolic impact
Takeaway throwaways pervade Aotearoa New Zealand’s hospitality and tourist industries, events, venues, and festivals. Take coffee cups for example: it’s estimated that Aotearoa New Zealand churns through a staggering 295 million of them each year. The fact most people habitually interact with single-use disposable serviceware every day gives this waste stream symbolic importance. Removing these products from sight and replacing them with reusables will disrupt unquestioned and engrained wasteful habits and remove the waste currently tied up with our daily rituals, creating cultural ripple effects throughout society.
4. Single-use disposable serviceware is low-hanging fruit
Our waste problems can feel overwhelming, so tackling the easy things first makes sense. Some single-use disposables are tricky to replace in some contexts. For example, medical or civil emergency situations. However, when it comes to serving food and drink, throwaways are generally pretty avoidable (though see our position on accessibility). Reusable alternatives are readily available in Aotearoa New Zealand already, and many individuals, cafes, and organisations are on board with the reuse culture. Scaling these alternatives into standardised reuse systems for the country is totally doable, especially as the Government already has the legislative tools to tackle this problem. We just need to press play!
5. Single-use Disposable serviceware fuels a convenience-based, ‘on-the'-go’ culture
Throwaway serviceware goes hand-in-hand with modern day, frenetic lifestyles. No time to sit down, chill, unwind. No time to wash dishes or plan ahead and bring our own fork and spoon. There’s an expectation that we can drink coffee anywhere, anytime, even when we’re up mountains, on the beach, or on the side of the highway. Takeaway Throwaways believes that disrupting the cult of busy-ness and convenience could bring wider benefits - connecting communities, breaking isolation, and reducing stress. Imagine if we all had time to sit. Who might we meet at our local cafes? What positives could come from the trust built by reusable serviceware loan systems?
Why reuse?
We must replace the linear, throwaway economy with a circular economy that designs out waste, urgently
Sure, we can do beach cleans, put stronger lids on bins, capture and treat landfill methane and leachate, or tell people off for littering, but if we didn’t make the rubbish in the first place, none of this pollution would exist. And, none of those trees would have been cut down, oil extracted, water and energy spent, or fossil fuels burned, just to get single-use items to us.
Rather than scrambling about at the bottom of the cliff, we need to think bigger and bolder. We need to pinpoint all aspects of our economy that make waste, and then brainstorm and problem-solve how to cut that waste back. Let’s think outside the box!
The magic formula to follow is the waste hierarchy
The waste hierarchy guides us to invest in preventing and reducing waste, and reusing and repairing products and resources, before recycling and disposal. The higher up the waste hierarchy we go, the less waste we have in the first place, and the greatest greenhouse gas abatement (Hogg and Ballinger, 2015).
Don’t just take it from us!
Many international and local organisations are highlighting how REUSE is key to our waste problems. For example, Ellen Macarthur Foundation, Sustainable Business Network, Greenpeace, Rethink Plastic Alliance, and #BreakFreeFromPlastic Movement. Campaigns similar to Takeaway Throwaways also exist overseas. For example, check out UPSTREAM, the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s Global Legislative Toolkit, and Rethink Disposable.
If done well, reuse systems can save businesses money, improve consumer experience, build brand loyalty, create a superior and more attractive product delivery system, offer a real solution to the plastic pollution problem, and lead to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (Ellen Macarthur Foundation). What’s not to love?
What about more recycling or composting of disposable serviceware?
We can’t recycle our way out of this one
Our recycling systems are mostly broken. Even if they were working, recycling pollutes, creates waste, and uses massive amounts of energy. That’s why recycling is lower down the waste hierarchy. It’s 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 not easy candidates for recycling. They’re 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. Often they’re made of hard-to-recycle plastic types or they aren’t designed for recyclability. For example, sushi trays and coffee cup lids are often polystyrene, while plastic cutlery and stirrers are usually too small for mechanised recycling systems to cope with. If these are recycled at all, it’s more accurate to say they are ‘downcycled’ (made into different products that aren’t themselves recycled) - not exactly a ‘closed loop’ system.
Even if these products are recyclable (or downcyclable), contextual factors limit their recycling rates. They’re generally used outside of the home where recycling bins are less easy to find, so end up in general rubbish bins.
Compostable Serviceware Is Not The Answer Either
Bad news… compostable serviceware is still single-use, so it still wastes energy and resources. Not only that, but it often gets in the way of a growing culture of reuse by making people, cafes, and events feel better about accepting and giving out single-use products, because they seem lighter on the Earth.
Compostable products are also a minefield for individuals and businesses to navigate given Aotearoa New Zealand’s lack of certification and labelling requirements. Terms like ‘degradable’, ‘biodegradable’, ‘home compostable’, and ‘commercially compostable’ are often used interchangeably, with no legal requirement to back claims up. Most people don’t know the disposal implications of these different terms anyway. When thrown into a rubbish bin, compostable products go to landfill where they produce methane in the anaerobic conditions (a potent greenhouse gas that the Climate Change Commission says we need to sort out). If put in recycling bins, compostable products contaminate recycling streams. If compostable packaging escapes into the natural environment, it still harms wildlife.
The truth is, composting these products on scale would require huge investment in composting facilities and separate collection systems that currently do not exist in Aotearoa New Zealand. And after all that investment, we’d still be churning through energy and natural resources to manufacture a single-use product; an environmental footprint that could be easily offset with reuse systems. And do we really want to be using the soil as a waste disposal system for packaging anyway? The more research we do, the more we uncover that a lot of compostable packaging actually contains dodgy chemicals, additives and even microplastics that contaminate the soil we then use to grow food.
Isn’t this a bit nanny state? Why do we want the Government to ban things and mandate reuse systems? We’re already able to BYO serviceware for takeaways if we want to…
People who choose to reuse and the businesses that welcome BYO serviceware are awesome. But let’s be honest; if voluntary behaviour change were enough to get us over the line, everyone would already be using reusable serviceware rather than accepting disposables. Unfortunately, for as long as throwaways remain an option, people will use them- just like plastic shopping bags. We believe a ban, alongside real measures to scale-up the reusable alternatives, is necessary.
A mandatory phase-out of single-use disposable serviceware is also a question of social efficiency, opportunity-cost, and fairness. In an unregulated environment, businesses and cafes that choose to stick their neck out and get rid of throwaways fear a competitive disadvantage against those that don’t. Meanwhile, behaviour change through ‘moral suasion’ demands more effort than Government regulation, yet yields a much smaller result. The time, energy, and resources that individuals, community groups, and NGOs currently pour into encouraging people to choose reusables over disposables is time, energy, and resources that could be put elsewhere.
We need the Government to step in; show community groups they’ve got their back; level the playing field for business; oversee the design process for alternative reuse schemes; and support the establishment of vital reuse infrastructure at scale.