Sustainability at Steamer Wharfby Fiona Garlick

With the New Zealand-wide ban of single use plastic bags kicking in this week I thought I would have a wander around the precinct and see just how well we are doing in the sustainability stakes. I was happy to observe that most of the Steamer Wharf business operators have hopped on board well before the ban and have their own sustainable practices in place.

Pier and Little Blackwood confirmed that they have had no use for plastic bags at all, whilst Public Kitchen & Bar use biodegradable takeaway boxes and have long ago swapped out plastic straws with paper. Atlas Beer Café declared that paper bags for takeaway food offerings have been in use for some time, as are metal drinking straws and their reusable metal riggers for craft beer. Kirk Webster restaurant manager from FINZ Seafood & Grill admitted that although they have been using plastic bags for their popular fish and chips takeaways in the past these have been replaced with brown paper bags. Saigon Kingdom is on the same trajectory when it comes to takeaways. This week marks the time when the plastic pottle for their delicious Vietnamese noodle soup is replaced by compostable cardboard pottles, wooden cutlery and cardboard takeaway boxes.

Visiting our retailers and experience based tenants also brought the good news with Minus 5 Ice Bar utilising paper bags for merchandise and OK Gifts have been busy running down their stocks of non-compliant bags (otherwise what do you do with them?) before introducing the compliant (handle free and over the 70 micron weight limit) bags. Their policy is to “reduce our usage of bags by offering our mostly tourist customers the choice to say “no” to a plastic bag or purchase a reusable bag.”

In the bigger picture of sustainability some operators have made the conscious decision to do away with takeaway coffee. Kaitlyn Harrison spokesperson from Ivy & Lola’s stated “We don’t use plastic bags at all and we also don't do takeaway coffee which is good from a takeaway cup waste perspective too.”

Chris Buckley from Pub on Wharf, which has long been ahead of the curve in the sustainability game; ditching plastic straws long ago and having their own on site glass crusher to deal with their bottle recycling, explained that the takeaway culture of coffee is part of the problem. “What’s wrong with just sitting for 5 minutes to enjoy your coffee in a real cup in a café, instead of walking off with it in cardboard one? It’s five minutes of your life that will do you good, as well as the environment.”

Our takeaway thought from that? Slow down people! Sit down, enjoy your food, enjoy your drinks, enjoy the view, in Queenstown one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Enjoy, be sustainable and say no to plastic. We have!