Greenpeace is welcoming the Government’s announcement today of a plan to phase out more single-use plastics, but is calling for the ban to cover a wider range of products, including single-use plastic drink bottles like Coke, Pepsi and Pump.

"This new commitment to phase out single-use plastics is a win for nature and a win for people power - but it needs to go further if we are to have any hope of averting the plastic pollution crisis," says Greenpeace Aotearoa plastics campaigner Juressa Lee.

Greenpeace’s petition to "ban the bottle" now has over 80,000 signatures and the organisation is vowing to renew its efforts to eliminate throwaway plastic bottles.

"Throwaway single-use plastic bottles like Coke and Pump are one of the worst culprits in the plastic crisis. Here in Aotearoa it’s estimated that 1 billion single-use plastic bottles are thrown away every year and the majority of those end up in landfill or in the oceans and rivers.

Greenpeace is also critical of the Government’s reliance on recycling as a solution.

"The fantasy that we can recycle our way out of the plastic pollution predicament is a false solution pedaled to us by the unholy alliance of Big Oil and Big Plastic.

"To really make a dent in the tide of plastic pollution, we need to get rid of throwaway plastic drink bottles altogether, and establish refillable alternatives and systems to collect and reuse alternatives such as glass," says

Greenpeace has recently challenged NZ Rugby to drop its current negotiations with UK petrochemical giant INEOS saying "INEOS wants to greenwash its dirty image by associating with New Zealand’s good environmental reputation through the brand of our most iconic sports team, the All Blacks. But now is the time in history when big oil and plastic polluters need the red card not a pat on the back".

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