On Wednesday 12 August 2020 the Government announced a proposal to ban a range of hard-to-recycle and single-use plastic items. The proposal is now up for public consultation until 4 December 2020, 5pm.

This proposal is a big deal and it’s important we take the time to have our say. You can find the consultation document and links to the submission form on the Ministry for the Environment website. You can also find our initial reaction to the proposals here.

Recognising that the full consultation document and submission form is a bit… intense… the Ministry has also set up a separate page for this consultation that’s a bit more accessible. It includes a video, an official summary of the 74 page consultation document, as well as a quick “online survey” for people who want to have their say, but would rather not go through the full long-form submission process. 

For those who are keen to make a full submission and/or would like to have a bit of a sense of what the wider zero waste community thinks about this proposal, we’ve compiled a bunch of resources that will hopefully help (though, if we’re honest, it looks much prettier on the Takeaway Throwaways website!!). These are resources we’ve created, alongside resources from other organisations in the zero waste community. Collaboration is what we’re all about!

Here are the resources:

1. Our 2-page summary of the consultation document (because, let’s be honest, 74 pages is a bit of a slog…). If you’d like to read a 5-page version with different formatting by Takeaway Throwaways, you can find that here.
2. Takeaway Throwaways’ comprehensive submission resources
3. Zero Waste Network has two resources to help you make a submission that you can choose depending on how much time you have available:
   1. A template submission guide (features text you can copy and paste into your submission form and then play around with, or leave as is!)
   2. A nice and simple, ready-to-go sign and send submission form (if you don’t have time to write your own submission, this resource is a pre-written submission, which you have the option of editing before sending, but you don’t have to).
4. Greenpeace Aotearoa’s ready-to-go sign and send submission form (if you don’t have time to write your own submission, this features a pre-written submission, which you have the option of editing before sending, but you don’t have to)
5. A joint submission from the zero waste community (which The Rubbish Trip has signed on to too, of course 😉 ). This is well worth reading if you are into a deep dive and intend to do a detailed submission yourself. PS other organisations are welcome to sign on to this joint submission – simply send your logo to hannah@takeawaythrowaways.nz before 2 December 2020.
6. CSS Disability Action has recently released their submission in relation to plastic straws and why they don’t support a ban. We recommend reading this!
7. Submission writing webinars – in person (if you’re in Welly) or live-streamed online for everyone else
   • 9 October 2020 – Two, back to back, Submission Writing Workshops over lunchtime at Victoria University of Wellington (also live-streamed if you aren’t in Welly)
   • 29 October 2020 – a Submission Writing Party at Hopper Refill Shop & Cafe in the evening (also live-streamed if you aren’t in Welly)

Happy submission writing!