This is Frogtown beach, a short drive and a 2km walk from home. We had it all to ourselves and enjoyed a glorious late Autumn morning there. We picked up a shopping bag of plastic and such, which makes it a walk with result.
I'm excited to say we have a new project on the boil for Plastic Bag Free Northland. We've had approval from the Countdown Regent supermarket manager to have a stall at the supermarket entrance to promote reusable bags and to promote their soft plastic recycling bin that is in-store.
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| My newly painted signs. The background mountains are the view from Whangarei Harbour |
We have a month's trial starting June, and it will be very interesting to see what kind of response we get. At present there are very few reusable bag users at that supermarket - we want to change the trend.
We are not using nice handmade bags, as we just can't supply enough, but have sourced a supply of the ones made from recycled plastic, that should save at least 100 plastic bags each in their life, if used consistently. We do have calico ones too, but they are $2.50 each.
I'll let you know how it goes.
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| Feijoas |
Ah well, it's feijoa season again and I'm off to do something with all these...I have recipes for low sugar feijoa loaf, no churn feijoa icecream, and some will go into the freezer for later in the year.
I'm delighted that my guava moth traps seem to have worked, we've had no bugs in any of our fruit this year.
That's great that your traps worked. It looks like you will have lots of fruit to use up. I like seeing your beach and your harbor view along with what the vegetation is like. The color of the water is just gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with you reusable bag mission. It sure isn't catching on much here except at the new Aldis where you have to bring your own bag or buy theirs. It's funny -- there I almost never see anyone buy a bag. So people can do it when they have to but at the other stores where they are readily available and free, they don't bother to bring their own.
The huge loggerhead sea turtles are coming in to nest, starting this week. The second nest was just made on the island where our beach is last night. We have walked to both of them. Just to say hello! My dream is to see a hatch but I probably never will.
How lovely to have the turtles nesting Cynthia. We only ever rarely get turtles here in the wild.
DeleteHopefully if people keep plugging away about reusable bags, eventually it will become commonplace to use them.
YAY! That is such a positive step! I feel in my heart and soul that we are teetering on the edge of change with regard to single use plastic!
ReplyDeleteThere is a TV show airing in Australia at the moment called The War on Waste, I don't know if you get it over there, anyway it was a little disappointing on last nights episode to see that plastic hasn't exactly been replaced with non plastic bags in places like Tasmania, who have supposedly gone plastic bag free. The laws deem that "thicker" plastic bags are a suitable substitute for regular plastic bags, because they can be reused, I know it's a start and better than nothing, but what we need is a non plastic bag alternative.
We can only keep pushing can't we, to save places like that pristine beach you had all to yourselves!...Beautiful!!
We don't get that program here Cheryl, it sounds good. I was a bit remiss in not mentioning Tasmania's policy about heavy plastic bags. I did see some and was surprised until I saw their policy on it. I still didn't see many people using them though. I felt that the emphasis on plastic bag free there has had a huge impact all the same.
DeleteHow exciting to see your traps have worked. Best of luck with your reusable bags. I would love to see more people using reusable bags here, but sadly I am the only one. The solution seems to be for the stores not to offer them in the first place. Aldi's doesn't offer bags, if you forgot yours and need a bag you have to purchase them. But because Aldi's prices are so much lower than other grocery stores people shop there and don't complain about having to bring their own bags but will scream at the top of their lungs when eliminating single use bags comes up for any other outlets.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lois - it's going to be really interesting to see if we have success, I can't wait! I'll keep you all posted.
DeleteI really wish you lots of success with your reusable bags project. Nothing like that in the area where we live that I've come across. Most trolleys I see are filled with packaged products packed into plastic bags. I use calico bags and some lined hessian bags with handles and I take mesh and cotton produce bags for loose fruit/veg. I keep my bags in an old washing basket in the back of my car so I never forget them and there's always one if I have to pick something up. Meg:)
ReplyDeleteThanks Meg. There was nothing like it here either, we just decided enough was enough! There will be an update in my next blog post. If everyone did as you do, taking your reusables, it would be wonderful. It's just a habit to get into, then it becomes second nature doesn't it.
DeleteThat's great that your traps worked. It looks like you will have lots of fruit to use up
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