New Zealand’s largest community fruit and vegetable co-op is switching from plastic bags to returnable cloth bags, in a move expected to save 114,000 single-use plastic bags every year.
Words Julia Steel
New Zealand’s largest community fruit and vegetable co-op is switching from plastic bags to returnable cloth bags, which is expected to save 114,000 single-use plastic bags every year.
The Wellington Regional Fruit and Vegetable Co-op has started rolling out the change at two of its 10 packing hubs in Cannons Creek and Titahi Bay.
The co-op’s regional co-ordinator from Wesley Community Action, Sallie Calvert, says customers are excited at the prospect of the change.
“This is just a first step towards making the co-op more environmentally sustainable. We will also continue to explore options with the other recyclable materials that come from our produce suppliers”.
The co-op distributes 9 tonnes of produce to 1400 households every week and is run as a partnership between Wesley Community Action, Regional Public Health and the 10 host communities. The co-op began as a community-led pilot at Wesley Community Action’s Cannons Creek site in 2014 to provide access to cheap, fresh produce in an area with no local supermarket.
Regional Public Health is sponsoring four returnable cloth bags for all the co-op’s existing members. Each week members receive one bag of fruit and one of vegetables for a total cost of $12. Under the new system, they will return two bags each time they pick up new produce.
The co-op has spent many months developing and refining the process to enable the continuous use of the returnable bags.
Says Emmeline Haymes of Regional Public Health, “We know it can be hard for people to change their behaviour, but we also want this initiative to succeed. We don’t want a situation where all we’re doing is switching from using lots of plastic bags to using lots of cloth bags.”
She says the environmental benefits of getting rid of plastic bags can only be realised if the returnable bags are used multiple times. “We expect each returnable bag to be used at least 26 times, but we think they will last longer than that.”
A pilot programme at the co-op’s Kāpiti hub has helped the co-op prepare for the rollout. Kāpiti hub co-ordinator Ben Wakefield says it took a few weeks for people to remember to bring back their bags but the return rate is now close to 100 per cent.
“People really want to start using fewer plastic bags, and it’s great that everyone in the co-op has been able to work together to make this happen.”
