500 signatures reached
To: Harbourside Market, Victoria Street Market, Newtown Market
No Plastic Bags at Wellington City Markets
Dear organisers of Wellington's glorious markets,
Please please please ditch the plastic bags.
We love fruit, vegetables and the earth from which they grow. We are grateful to have an amazing selection of quality, affordable produce available every weekend at Wellington's markets. The 'vege market ritual' is a highlight of my week. My wife, daughter and I love to meander our way through the colourful aisles and stock up on nature's goodness for the week ahead.
However, we really don't love the abundance of plastic bags found at your markets. In our experience stall owners are so quick to shove our food into plastic bags, even when we take the food out of our reusable tote bags when paying. Plastic is the default and it is not okay.
Every week we see plastic bags float into the sky, taken off by the wind, directly towards the ocean. Every week we see people using an unnecessary amount of plastic bags. Every week we see a culture of plastic perpetuated by convenience and availability.
Things need to change.
When I think of 'vege markets' I think natural, wholesome, good for our bodies and good for the earth.
Plastic has no part in this equation and needs to go. You can change this, right now.
Why is this important?
Like many people I used to be addicted to plastic. I purchased plastic products in plastic bags and this plastic waste went into plastic bin liners and ended up in a mountain of plastic. Some ended up in our oceans too. If I'm honest I just didn't think about it. I consumed and I wasted.
More recently I realised that my individual actions have a part to play in collective destruction. Plastic is a scourge on our beautiful planet and I am ashamed that plastic is still commonplace in our communities. Sometimes issues like global warming, pollution and the scale of environmental degradation overwhelm me and I don't know what to do.
But I know that I can reduce my plastic consumption. This is within my power and control.
One tangible change I made was buying a stash of tote bags. Now I use them for the markets, shopping at the supermarket and running errands every day. They're a part of my life now. It isn't hard to carry them with me to the market and they're much stronger than plastic bags which is great because I buy a lot of produce!
If plastic bags weren't an option at the markets I'm certain that people would transition to reusable bags quickly, especially if there was a bit of warning in the lead up.
It makes no sense to have plastic bags at our markets when they're so harmful and the alternatives are just so easy!
Wellington is a city that leads the way.
Progressive Enterprises, which runs Countdown supermarkets, announced all its stores would be ditching single-use plastic bags by the end of the year. If a large corporation can make the switch then a local market can do the same.
There is no reason good enough to continue with plastic bags.