If anyone ever needed an excuse to gather with friends for extra cake and coffee this month, a plastic-free morning tea competition could be it.

Waste Free Waitaki is encouraging schools, workplaces, households and community groups to put a bit of extra thought into their gatherings this July, and win themselves prizes at the same time, Waitaki District Council waste minimisation officer Lucianne White said.

“Our competition this year is to host a plastic free morning tea. 

“Each year we try and focus on something that’s one area of life to really think about. We try and keep it a nice manageable thing, and it’s really about encouraging or inspiring that deep thinking and investigation, and ultimately behaviour change.” 

People are so surrounded by plastic packaging, that it is often taken for granted that it’s the way things are, she said.

“So it’s really inspiring that observation.”

The plastic-free morning tea also coincides with the Government’s second round of single-use plastic bans, which came into play on July 1.

The first round, introduced in October last year, included some PVC and polystyrene food, drink and takeaway containers, along with plastic-stem cotton tips and plastic stirrers.

This round includes single-use plastics such as produce bags, cutlery, bowls and plates, along with produce stickers, and plastic straws.

The final round, coming into effect mid-2025, will ban the remaining PVC food and drink packaging.

Lucianne said this month’s competition “absolutely” aligned with the latest round of banned plastics.

“Because the plastic ban for 2023 is largely around entertaining - so plastic cutlery and tableware, as well as produce bags and stickers.

“Another reason we chose this is it’s really applicable to everybody,” she said. “And it’s really applicable to an audience that gets quite passionate about it, and that would be our youth. 

“There’s often shared morning teas at school, and as working mothers we’ve all been guilty of racing to the shop when your teenager tells you the morning of, so it’s kind of looking at that.”

The hope is that people will look at where plastic “sneaks into it”, when entertaining, and use alternatives and make change in that space, she said.

“It is actually easy - it might take a little bit more planning, and it might take a little bit more thought - but it’s totally doable, and it’s just a nice opportunity to enjoy conversation with the group that you’re doing it with, and share that inspiration.”

It also might encourage people to approach morning teas in a “old-fashioned way”.

“Going back to the basics, you know, more home baking and wholefoods.

“Having a morning tea that’s plastic free is probably not only good for the environment, but good for us as well.”

Once small changes are made, and repeated a number of times, they become habit, and that is the ultimate goal, she said.

“That would be our message - use this as an opportunity to inspire those changes long term.”

To enter the competition, groups need to host their morning tea, write about their experience in 300 words or less - sharing photos, thoughts and inspiration with the Waste Minimisation team at [email protected]

Prizes on offer will “help people on their sustainability journey”, and can be molded to suit the winners, Lucianne said.

The competition closes at the end of the month, and people are encouraged to follow the Waste Free Waitaki page on Facebook for more information.