Issue #27: Circular economies
On thinking sustainably up the supply chain
Kia ora, and happy Tuesday!
It’s Plastic Free July, so you may be thinking of ways to reduce your own plastic use. Here at Climate Club, we want to complement these personal efforts with actions that change the broken systems generating this waste once and for all.
For example, recycling thousands of plastic containers each month is energy-intensive and “ambulance at the bottom of the cliff” (although please do it!), whereas a company providing refillable containers for their products shifts the system towards not producing waste in the first place.
The more pressure we can put on manufacturers to prevent waste from being created in the first place, the lower the demands will be for raw materials (remembering that plastics are made from fossil fuels), and the smaller our impact on the Earth’s resources and the climate.
Two great key phrases to look up about the zero waste movement are “product stewardship” and “right to repair”, and an awesome place to start learning more is in economist Kate Raworth’s book, Doughnut Economics.
What can you do today?
The most-clicked link from last week’s issue was the Forest & Bird stewardship land petition.
🐝 If you have 5 minutes: Fight for your repair rights
Isn’t it frustrating when something breaks, and there’s no way to fix it? The right to repair campaign led by community space Repair Café Aotearoa NZ argues for quality, repairable products over fast consumption, like fast fashion, fast furniture, and fast electronics.
Action: Sign the petition for our right to repair, which will be delivered to Minister for Environment Hon. David Parker in less than three week’s time.
🐇 If you have 15 minutes: Packing it in
Did you know packaging accounts for 46% of the world’s plastic waste? Currently, some of the world’s top single-use plastic polluters are the same corporations who led the “people as polluters” deflection campaign decades ago. This makes us think we should be taking responsibility for recycling instead of the companies taking responsibility for their wasteful product designs. A lovely reader emailed their favourite breakfast company and asked them to investigate sustainable packaging options.
Action: As you go through your plastic waste pile, look for ones which can’t be recycled and email the company asking them to change.
💃🏽 If you have 30 minutes or more: Vote climate
Local elections are coming up in October! It’s our chance to encourage people to turn up, vote climate, and convince candidates to commit to greener policies. Keep an eye out for more “Vote Climate” actions in the coming months, but for now:
✅ Vote Climate: Join the online campaign launch, 10am - 10:30am Wednesday July 6th. Register here or watch the livestream via the PSA Facebook page.
✅ Vote Climate: Register here for updates on how to enrol before the cutoff on 12 August.We shared a petition to preserve conservation land last week, but if you’re keen to get stuck into a detailed submission, you can join Forest and Bird’s workshop on the submission.
Action: Attend the submission workshop on 7pm this Thursday
In case you missed it!
We had our first ever lightning talk 3 weeks ago! It was great to see over 20 people there with great questions and interest, as Nina Ives discussed whether NZ really did “build back better” since the early waves of the pandemic from a climate perspective. The meeting was not recorded, but here are the slides. Our next lightning talk will be in a few weeks, so stay tuned!
That’s all for today, folks 👋🏽 Thanks for taking action. Enjoy Story of Stuff’s new series on Solving Plastic.
See you next week,
Dhanya, Emily, and Jenny from the Climate Club