Mangawhai moving on plastic free 

 

BY JULIA WADE

Nearly one year ago an environmental movement blossomed in Mangawhai, with members united in one significant and vital cause - to put the brakes on the use of single-use plastic items.

With the official Plastic–free month of July (PFJ) on the horizon, Plastic-free Mangawhai (PFM) has only grown in momentum, continuing to encourage and inspire many in the area to think differently about the use of plastic bags, straws and takeaway coffee cups. 

Evidence of how important the movement has become to locals is shown in the number of businesses adopting eco-friendly products and initiatives, the continuing number of attendance to Tuesdays t-shirt bag-making morning and PFM workshops attracting a large amount of interest. 

PFM initiator Kate Matheson says both beeswax-making workshops on May 9 and 23 were completely sold out. 

“Beeswax wraps are a fantastic way to reduce waste in our lives. They can replace gladwrap, which was the most common thing we found during beach clean-ups this summer… and have many wonderful uses from lunchboxes to using them when buying items at the market,” she says. “Coming up we’ve also got a workshop on making your own cleaning products on June 13 at Te Whai, Pioneer Village and we are also doing a workshop on waste free school lunches in June sometime.”

PFM are also teaming up with Mangawhai Volunteer Life Saving Club to promote and draw attention to plastic waste, first focusing combined efforts on Plastic-free July with possible events planned for summer. 

“The surf club are really keen to expand their mission to protecting the sea as well as the people in the sea! We have quite a few plans coming together for Plastic Free July and all funds raised will go to support the lifeguards.”

Matheson and the team from MPF will be launching PFJ events at the beginning and end of July including a beach/neighbourhood clean-up event planned for a the middle of the month. The group will also be starting another t-shirt bag-making group at Mangawhai Tavern every second Wednesday evening, running a stall at Saturday’s market with eco-products such as keepcups and beeswax wraps for sale, and have already kick-started promoting the event with a Plastic Free July sign-up Facebook page.

“We would love people to come and talk to us about small changes they can make,” she says. “We will also be talking to businesses this month about how they can get on board. Last year was great with quite a few businesses making positive changes. We are hoping with more lead up time, this year will be even bigger.” 
 

Local business support initiative A number of local eateries and businesses have recently joined the growing list of businesses already implementing ways to minimise plastic and inspire consumers.  Mangawhai Physiotherapy in Insley Street has volunteered to become a drop-off point for toothbrushes, related toothbrush packages, toothpaste and floss containers which they will send off for recycling, as well as selling bamboo toothbrushes.  Mangawhai Village’s mobile coffee spot, Rise and Grind, are shouting free brews for customers who fill one of their buckets with rubbish from around the area or along the causeway. Any children helping out will receive a free fluffy.  Tara Iti Golf Club have replaced plastic straws for metal ones and are currently working with Nordaq Fresh to eliminate plastic water bottles all together from the club.  Kaiwaka’s Three Furlongs tavern offers customers environmentally friendly food service disposables that are tree-free, compostable and recyclable, including certified paper straws. Madly Indian Mangawhai are giving away free poppadoms if customers bring their own containers and bags.  Mangawhai Tavern is committing to a long term goal of becoming environmentally sustainable and even organised a visit from an environmental scientist to get advice on ways they can conduct business with minimal harm to the wider environment. Besides banning plastic straws shortly, the Tavern team is planning recycling workshops hosted by locals, village and beach rubbish clean-ups followed by a BBQ for volunteers, and have even planted a garden with a three-system compost worm farm. Tavern manager Poni Sula says their new environmental-focused programme will take time.  “But we have started the conversation and will challenge ourselves and our suppliers to find better answers,” he says. “Working with Plastic-free has been great and they have been amazing with their support of our vision. We aren't perfect and don't claim to be, but we will try to move in the right direction.”  To choose your challenge or for more information about Plastic Free July, visit plasticfreejuly.org

Partnering up for more impact and a Plastic-free July, from left, PFM’s initiator Kate Matheson, MVSLC president Jon Drucker, environmental scientist and PFM founding member Sarah Bray with three-year-old Annabelle.

“We’re excited to be partnering up with Plastic-free Mangawhai,” Drucker says. “We constantly see so much plastic on the beach every day and the health of our ocean is one of our top concerns.” 

We cannot recycle ourselves out of this crisis. New Zealanders use 1.6 billion plastic bags a year, yet on average each bag is only used for 12 minutes before it's thrown away. But there is no such thing as ‘away’. Be the change. Divest from plastic. Convert to reusables. 
- Plastic Free Mangawhai