Government’s proposed Landfill Levy increase will have no impact on plastic waste
- : plastic2parliament
- : 28/11/2019
This week the Government announced a long awaited and welcome proposal to increase the landfill levy in order to encourage behaviour change away from dumping to more recovery, recycling and reuse. However, the increased levy will have no effect on the volumes of plastic waste entering the economy, our landfills and the environment, according to plastic2parliament.
“Currently plastics account for around 8% of total waste by weight, but as much as 20% of landfill by volume and that’s an enormous proportion of the waste problem.” said Wade Bishop, initiator of the plastic2parliament letter writing initiative. (Ref. Recycle.co.nz)
“With the landfill levy based on weight there’s no incentive in this to move away from plastic packaging or other avoidable plastics that end up in our landfills and environment.” Wade Bishop said.
Plastic2parliament is encouraging New Zealanders to ask all political parties what their plastic reduction policies are by penning letters to MPs in Parliament, via the Parliamentary free-post address while also stuffing their large envelopes full of non-recyclable plastics to illustrate the plastic waste problem.
“We are asking political parties and Government to focus regulation on the producers of plastic packaging targeted at simply making less of it.” said Bishop.
The global oil industry is currently investing US$180 billion in new plastic production plants to increase production by 40% in the next 10 years. This immense supply-pressure will create a further explosion in plastic volumes here in New Zealand and the increased landfill levy will have zero effect on that. This is an over-production issue that needs urgent regulation where the problem starts: the producers.” he said.
The Plastic2parliament initiative believes that an immediate impact can be made on plastic waste by extending bans across wide categories of avoidable single-use plastics, such as cutlery, dishes, cups, takeaway containers and even bubble and pallet wraps.
The initiative also advocates a Plastic Tax on imported virgin plastics used to manufacture single-use packaging and on imported new plastic packaging.
“While the landfill levy will have a negligible effect on the cost of dumping plastic packaging for New Zealanders, it still gets under your skin having to pay even more to get rid of a toxic waste that you didn’t ask for in the first place.” Wade Bishop said.
Plastic2parliament continues to grow quickly with membership numbers of the Facebook Group reaching more than 1000 people sending more than 720 letters and plastic parcels to MPs since beginning in early October this year, including another 90 to Minister for the Environment, David Parker, this week.
ABOUT PLASTIC2PARLIAMENT
Plastic2parliament is a letter-writing initiative started by Wade Bishop of Christchurch which encourages New Zealanders concerned about single-use plastics to include these products with their letters to M.P.s using the Parliamentary Free-post address. The purpose of the initiative is to creatively emphasise how these non-recyclable products cannot be avoided by consumers and that the actual cause of plastic waste is over-production and use by manufacturers. We seek to have M.P.s advocate for meaningful plastic waste reduction policy within their respective Party focused on packaging producers.
Oil companies are investing US$180 billion right now to increase virgin plastic production by 40% before 2030. This enormous supply pressure has already created an explosion in single-use packaging globally. New Zealand will not be immune to these supply pressures and is poorly placed to deal with the waste volumes that will eventuate. (Ref. theguardian.com; and sciencemag.org)
- plastic2parliament_mailing David Parker
- : Wade Bishop
- : Initiator
- : plastic2parliament@gmail.com
- : 021432045
- : https://www.facebook.com/groups/plastic2parliament
- Twitter: @plastic2parlia1 | Facebook: @plastic2parliament
640 letters but no reply from Scott Simpson… yet
- : plastic2parliament
- : 20/11/2019
More than 640 letters in parcels filled with nonrecyclable single-use plastics have been mailed to MPs in Parliament via freepost since the plastic2parliament initiative started in mid-October. Another 125 plastic-stuffed letters were directed to National Party Environment Spokesperson, Scott Simpson, this week in a second mailing to the MP.
“When we mailed Mr. Simpson a few weeks ago, we specifically asked he put aside party politics for a moment and let people know what his plastic waste reduction policy might be.” Said Wade Bishop – initiator of the plastic2parliament letter writing initiative that encourages the public to include non-recyclable plastics with their letters to MPs.
“Unfortunately, instead of saying what he or his Party might actually do should they be in Government, he simply side-stepped into meaningless politicking,” Wade Bishop said.
At the time of the first mailing, Mr. Simpson received around 60 letters and plastic parcels and was quoted as saying:
“I’d suggest people send this to the Minister’s office instead as there has been a complete lack of action on recycling and waste minimisation from this Government.” (Ref. Stuff.co.nz)The second letter sent to Mr. Simpson, again, asked him to support the Product Stewardship changes to the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (WMA) proposed by the Government (which includes many categories of plastic packaging) but also asked him to advocate for bans of avoidable single-use plastics, such as cutlery and dishes, and a Plastic Tax on imported virgin plastics used to manufacture single-use packaging. (Ref. MFE.govt.nz)
Mr. Bishop said: “The fact is, the powers of Waste Minimisation Act [WMA] have been available since 2008. We could have avoided this deluge of single-use plastic waste, but instead those powers have largely not been used.
“The previous National Government essentially sat on the WMA and did nothing. This current Government is, at least, looking to put some of those powers into meaningful action. The problem for New Zealand is we can never be sure who will be in Government,” he said.
Plastic2parliament is encouraging citizens to ask all political Parties to detail their plastic reduction policies by penning letters to MPs in Parliament, via the Parliamentary Freepost address, asking them to focus regulation on the producers of plastic packaging, while also stuffing their large envelopes full of nonrecyclable plastics to make the point.
The plastic2parliament initiative continues to grow quickly with membership numbers of the Facebook Group reaching almost 1000 people since beginning in early October.
The global oil industry is currently investing US$180 billion in new plastic production plants with the aim to increase production by 40% in the next 10 years and some estimates suggest that plastic-waste volumes could quadruple before 2050.” Wade Bishop said. “This immense supply-pressure makes plastic-waste an issue of over-production with very little to do with consumer demand or consumer choices and it needs urgent, firm regulation.” he said.
ABOUT PLASTIC2PARLIAMENT
Plastic2parliament is a letter-writing initiative started by Wade Bishop of Christchurch which encourages citizens concerned about the explosion of single-use plastics to include these products with their letters to MPs using the Parliamentary Freepost address. The purpose of the initiative is to creatively emphasise how these nonrecyclable products cannot be avoided by consumers and that the actual cause of plastic waste is over-production and use by manufacturers.
ENDS
Media Contact: Wade Bishop
https://www.facebook.com/groups/plastic2parliament/
M: 021 432045
E: plastic2parliament@gmail.com- Plastic2parliament_MailDayEvent_18Nov19
- : Wade Bishop
- : Initiator
- : plastic2parliament@gmail.com
- : 021432045
- : https://www.facebook.com/groups/plastic2parliament
- @plastic2parlia1 | @sendit2them | @plastic2parliament
Precision Driven Health partners with MoleMap in AI project to improve skin cancer detection
- : Precision Driven Health
- : 18/11/2019
Precision Driven Health (PDH), New Zealand’s leading health data research initiative, has today announced it is working with MoleMap on its use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve the early detection of skin cancer.
PDH Chief Executive Dr Kevin Ross says the $2 million research project will enhance the AI algorithm that MoleMap has developed to differentiate cancerous skin lesions from benign lesions.
“Every year nearly 400 New Zealanders die from skin cancer and studies indicate that early detection could have greatly improved the chance of survival in the majority of cases,” Dr Ross says.
“This project has the potential to increase access to skin checks by extending the technology for use at the primary care and general practitioner level, and thereby enabling more New Zealanders access to early detection for skin cancer.”
MoleMap Chief Technology Officer Adrian Bowling says the PDH partnership builds on initial research developed with IBM Research in Melbourne on a small subset of data.
“The partnership with PDH will provide us with access to a larger, wider set of data as we continue to work with experts at the University of Otago in Dunedin, and Monash University in Melbourne, to enhance this ground-breaking technology,” Mr Bowling says.
Computer-based systems for recognising malignant moles have been developed over the past 20 years but have had limited uptake. With the advent of AI, combined with large databases and “deep learning” algorithms, new opportunities for the use of these technologies can be explored.
“Published studies and our own research suggest that it is possible for a system-based AI to be at least as good as dermatologists in differentiating cancerous lesions from benign lesions,” Mr Bowling says.
The research project will include clinical trials in New Zealand and Australia once the algorithm has been enhanced. As essential part of the research is to ensure that the unique population of Aotearoa is taken into account and all skin types will be tested.
Dr Ross says that, as with all PDH projects, a key focus is applying new techniques in data science to advance Māori health outcomes.
“Māori do not have a high incidence of melanoma; however, there is a high mortality rate for those who have melanoma. This has generally been seen as a result of Māori, like many other New Zealanders, presenting with later stage melanoma when it is difficult to cure. Being able to better detect melanoma in Māori could help decrease this mortality risk and save lives.”
For more information and/or an interview with Dr Kevin Ross, contact:
Nicole Gray
Communications Specialist
nicole@precisiondrivenhealth.comAbout Precision Driven Health
The Precision Driven Health partnership (PDH), established in March 2016, is one of the most ambitious data science research initiatives to be undertaken in New Zealand. The partnership unites the health IT sector with health providers and universities to create health and commercial opportunities for New Zealanders. Research is focused on applying new data science techniques to understand the massive volume of data about an individual captured by health information systems, consumer devices, social networks, genetic testing, and other sources. Visit our website precisiondrivenhealth.com.About MoleMap
MoleMap’s team of leading dermatologists and melanographers have been detecting and diagnosing melanoma for over two decades, using a unique skin mapping system that’s designed to track changes in the skin over time. MoleMap has over 40 clinics around New Zealand serving over 250,000 patients nationwide. Visit our website www.molemap.co.nz.- : Nicole Gray
- : Communications Specialist
- : nicole@precisiondrivenhealth.com
- : 0276177235
- https://twitter.com/HealthPrecision | https://www.linkedin.com/company/precision-driven-health/
More than 500 Plastic-filled parcels mailed to MPs
- : plastic2parliament
- :
More than 500 letters and parcels filled with nonrecyclable single-use plastics have now been mailed to MPs in Parliament via freepost.
This week alone, the plastic2parliament initiative mailed over 130 plastic-stuffed letters to NZ First MP Jenny Marcroft to ask if her Party has a single-use plastic reduction policy.
“Plastic waste is essentially environmental change in solid form,” said Wade Bishop, initiator of plastic2parliament.
The plastic2parliament initiative encourages the public to include non-recyclable plastics in their mail to MPs to illustrate the problem.
“The problem with these plastics is that once they’re in the environment they don’t go away but continue to break down into smaller and smaller particles.” Wade Bishop said.
The letters ask MPs to support the Product Stewardship changes to the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (WMA) proposed by the Government which includes many categories of plastic packaging but also ask for bans of avoidable plastics and for all political Parties to have a plastic-waste reduction policy.
“Plastics are now in our water, our air, our food and we now eat about a credit cards worth or more every year. There’s plenty of research making its way into media about endocrine disrupting chemicals in plastic packaging and most recently to type 2 diabetes in research out of Australia.” Mr. Bishop said. “One could say that the cost of over-production of plastics is more than just the economics of dealing with the waste alone.” (Ref. sciencedirect.com; and baker.edu.au)
Plastic2parliament is encouraging citizens concerned about the growing epidemic of avoidable and single-use packaging plastics to engage in penning letters to MPs in Parliament via the Parliamentary Freepost address. The initiative asks politicians to focus regulation on the producers of plastic packaging, while urging the public to stuff their large envelopes full of nonrecyclable plastics to make the point.
The plastic2parliament initiative continues to grow quickly with membership numbers of the Facebook Group now more than 900 people since the initiative began in early October.
“People are tired of plastic pollution being framed as a consumer issue, or one that is simply a matter of better collection and recycling.” Wade Bishop said.
“The fact is, it’s more about unfettered production of higher and higher volumes of single-use plastics. It’s a production issue driven by the economic benefits of cheap plastics, which are cheap only because the true lifetime cost of those plastics is not currently carried by those producers.”
The global oil industry is investing US$180 billion in new plastic production plants, over this coming 10 years, with the aim to increase production by 40% from the 348 million tonnes per year presently. Some estimates suggest that plastic waste volumes will quadruple by 2050. (Ref. theguardian.com; and sciencemag.org)
“We already know that plastic waste and pollution is an enormous problem here in New Zealand, and globally. The current investments to increase plastic production exponentially in the face of the problems we already see is criminal. It’s foolish to think that New Zealand will not experience a massive increase in plastics given this mounting global supply pressure.” Mr Bishop said.
Media Contact: Wade Bishop
https://www.facebook.com/groups/plastic2parliament/
M: 021 432045
E: plastic2parliament@gmail.comABOUT PLASTIC2PARLIAMENT
Plastic2parliament is a letter-writing initiative started by Wade Bishop of Christchurch which encourages citizens concerned about the explosion of single-use plastics to include these products with their letters to MPs using the Parliamentary Freepost address. The purpose of the initiative is to creatively emphasise how these nonrecyclable products cannot be avoided by consumers and that the actual cause of plastic waste is over-production and use by manufacturers.- NZFirst_jennymarcroft_210219_MORE POPULAR THAN SIMON BRIDGES
- : Wade Bishop
- : Initiator of plastic2parliament
- : plastic2parliament@gmail.com
- : 021432045
- : https://www.facebook.com/groups/plastic2parliament
- @plastic2parliament | @plastic2parlia1
Simon Bridges asked to put aside politics on plastic waste
- : plastic2parliament
- : 06/11/2019
This week the plastic2parliament initiative mailed well over 130 plastic-stuffed letters to National Party leader Simon Bridges asking him to “do something crazy” and put aside party politics on plastic waste.
The letters asked him to support the Product Stewardship changes to the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (WMA) proposed by the Government including plastic packaging.
“A massive opportunity to get on top of New Zealand’s plastic waste problem was lost during the 9 years of a National Government where they essentially sat on the powers contained in the WMA and did absolutely nothing to deploy them. Now Simon Bridges can act constructively to support the Government’s proposed changes and announce a meaningful plastic reduction policy of his own as well.” said Wade Bishop, the initiator of the letter writing to MPs.
Plastic2parliament is encouraging citizens concerned about the growing epidemic of avoidable and single-use packaging plastics to engage in penning letters to MPs in Parliament via the Parliamentary Freepost address. Citizens are also being asked to stuff their large envelopes full of non-recyclable plastics.
“I see this as a creative way to physically take this unfettered, over-production of single-use plastics directly to the desks of MPs where they can’t ignore it.” said Mr. Bishop.
“MPs need to acknowledge that plastic waste is a production problem, not a consumer issue, and advocate for meaningful plastic reduction policies (within their respective political Party) and to regulate the producers of these plastic products,” he said.
The plastic2parliament initiative shows no sign of slowing down. Membership to the Facebook Group now growing beyond 800 people. In turn, its members have delivered more than 350 letters and parcels of non-recyclable plastics to MPs since the middle of October.
“This might seem like a frivolous thing to be doing, but we are drawing attention to very serious issues that the public and MPs need to be fully aware of,” Wade Bishop said.
“The fact is, while we already now know that plastic pollution is an astonishingly big problem, global oil companies are investing US$180 billion in new plastic manufacturing plants aiming to increase virgin plastic production by 40% before 2030.
“This is the true cause of the explosion in single-use plastics around us here in New Zealand. This clearly illustrates that it is a production issue and not a matter of consumer choice as we always seem to hear.” he said.
Plastic2parliament is advocating that waste policy and legislation focus on the source of single-use plastics by regulating the producers of them to reduce volumes of plastic packaging entering the economy and then the environment.
“Setting measurable reduction targets on the import of virgin plastic resins, used for packaging, and, on import volumes of new plastic packaging, would be one clear way of measuring the success of any regulations that are put in place.” Mr. Bishop said.
“Only about 20% of plastics are recycled each year and many are not even recyclable for various reasons. With plastic production set to increase 40 percent in the coming 10 years, recycling is clearly not the solution to the plastic waste problem. The best solution is making less in the first place.” he said.
ENDS
- p2p mailing_simon bridges 2
- : Wade Bishop
- : Initiator of plastic2parliament
- : plastic2parliament@gmail.com
- : 021432045
- : https://www.facebook.com/groups/plastic2parliament/
- @plastic2parliament
Climate Change and Mental Health top priorities for Port Hills nomination – Joe Davies
- : Joe Davies
- : 03/11/2019
-
I’m standing to represent the millennial generation and to broaden the debate around mental illness and climate change, Labour Party member Joe Davies said today.
Joe Davies is a 25 year old activist and a member of the Port Hills Labour electorate committee. Mr Davies was formerly the Head Boy at Linwood College through the 2011 earthquakes and at 19 he was elected on to the Hagley Ferrymead Community Board. After completing one term on the Community Board Mr Davies decided to pursue a career in nursing.
“I’m currently coming to the end of my nursing education and its given me a deep insight into the health of our people,” Mr Davies said.
“I have been impressed by the work of the Ardern Government in dealing with chronic underfunding from the Key Government era and giving our health workers greater facilities and resources.”
Davies says that if he is unsuccessful in the race to become the next Labour Port Hills nominee he will enter psychiatric nursing at Hillmorton Hospital.
“Those that end up as inpatients at specialist mental health services are some of the most traumatized and vulnerable people you will ever meet. We have to do everything we can to give them the tools to recover and contribute to society.
“I’m putting myself forward for the vacancy created by Ruth Dyson who has been a wonderful community focussed parliamentarian, because I want to be part of this Government that is reshaping our mental health system.
“I have also been inspired by the youth movement that is winning office across New Zealand.
“You only need to look at the local government election results to see that the voters are wanting to pass on the baton to competent young candidates.”
Davies is also standing to broaden the debate around climate change.
“Voters in the Port Hills are switched on about the environment and the need for action on climate change. I believe that I can best represent their interests both for the Labour nomination and the upcoming 2020 General election,” Mr Davies said.
For more information:
Joe Davies – (027) 552 1295
- DAVIES2020portrait
- : http://davies2020.co.nz
- : Joe Davies
- : Candidate for Labour Port Hills nomination
- : JoeDavies195@gmail.com
- : 0275521295
- : http://davies2020.co.nz
