Month-long drive to cut back single-use waste kicks off with plastic-free lunch

Manitobans at the Forks borrowed or broughttheir own reusable takeawaycontainers, cups and cutlery to lunch as part of a month-long campaign to cut back on one of the biggest areasof waste: single-use plastics.

Aster Measho is a disability support worker who joined her peersunder the canopy for the Green Action Centre's Thursday launch ofPlastic Free July in Manitoba.

"I'm enjoying a healthy lunch for five dollars,and there's no plastic, no reusable material at all," Measho said between bites of food catered by Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company.

"I'm very happy about that ... because it's our environment," she said.

The Green Action Centre's work focuses ongreen commuting, sustainable living and resource conservation, in addition to composting and waste reduction.

"We've ensured that all of the food coming out the kitchen is not wrapped in any plastic, and we're encouraging people to even bring theirown cutlery ... to start forming habits," Bethany Daman, the centre'ssustainability co-ordinator, said in an interview.

Daman helped organize Thursday's plastic-free event with the goal of encouraging Manitobans to remove one-time use products from their everyday lives.

Worldwide movement

Last month, the federal government pledged to ban harmful single-use plastics and hold companies responsible for plastic waste. The month-long challenge taking place in the province builds on a globalinitiativethat started overseas in Australia.

Daman said40 per cent of plastic is used just once before it gets tossed away. The key culprits include take-out containers and coffee cups, produce and grocery bags, cutlery,strawsand single-use plastic wrap.

The goal, Daman said, is to reduce or eliminate everythingthat turns up in garbage or recycling bins after only a few uses. It differs from person to person, so people need to approach things on a case-by-case basis as theyfind alternatives to wasteful plastics, she said.

The not-for-profit environmental organizationis encouraging people to participate for aday, a week or the full monthbyshopping in bulk and at farmers' markets, and by bringing theirown reusablebags, cutlery andmugs to restaurants and stores.

Wastebuilds up

The centre advocates for using less plastic and decreasingreliance on fossil fuels often used to make plastics which, Daman said, are unsustainable and damaging to ecosystems.

She said plastic caneventually breakdown, but then leaves behind micro-plastics that remain in the ecosystem.

Helen Carriere, who joined Measho for a plastic-freelunch with two clients from L'Arche Winnipeg, said Thursday was the first she had heard about the harmful impacts of micro-plastics on human health and the environment.

"It doesn't biodegrade like normal organic material. What it does is breaks into tiny little pieces which blow away, go in the atmosphere, go in the lakes, go in our water ... which really scares me."

ResearcherPhilipp Schwablfound micro-plastics in stool samples provided by eight participants in his study forthe Medical University of Vienna on thematerial buildup of plastic particles in people.

"When it starts affecting the higher food chains, that's when it really gets scary," Carriere said.

Carriere said the community home at L'Arche Winnipeg, which houses individuals with developmental disabilities, has already started taking part in limiting one-time use plastics by avoiding purchases of single-use plates, cutlery and straws, and stocking up on metal straws.

"We're doing our little part.... We're trying our best," Carriere said.

Piece by piece

Universityof Manitobastudent Andrea Marcon, whoworks at the school's sustainability office, brought herown forks, to-go container,water tumbler and coffee mug to the meal.

"Our landfills are overflowing with plastic, and the world that we live in was designed around plastic, and it's polluting our oceans, our waterways, our land, our ecosystems, our forest," the university student said.

Marcon said her school has begun to contribute to the movement in several ways, includingrecycling plastic bags through Winnipeg Harvest, providing compostible and biodegradable takeaway containers at campus food retailersand offering discounts at places like the campus Starbucks for students whobring their own reusable mugsto school.

"We can still take small steps to improve our everyday lives and help the environment when we can."