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Scientist: NZ needs to be more innovative with plastic

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Mon, 9 Dec 2019, 1:06PM
Meat trays are amongst the items that will be banned. (Photo / Wanganui Chronicle)

Scientist: NZ needs to be more innovative with plastic

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Mon, 9 Dec 2019, 1:06PM

Polystyrene meat trays, cups and takeaway food containers will be the next to go, as work continues to phase out single-use plastics.

The Government's released a new plan to tackle plastic waste.

Auckland University chemical science expert Duncan McGillivray says New Zealand needs to become more innovative.

He told Kate Hawkesby we can't continue to take our curries home in polystyrene.

"We've got almost no way of recycling it. What we need to do is find other plastic that can do the job better, is biodegradable, and still get a curry home."

He says that single use plastic may be harming not just our environment, but also our health.

McGillivray says that needs to change.

"It's all the way through our drinking water, it's in our oceans, it's in our soils, it's even in the air we breathe. We have no idea what the health impacts of that might be."

 

 

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