Plastic Free Haleiwa
The Kokua Hawai’i Foundation is excited to be working on a new community project. We have been approached by numerous motivated citizens interested in helping Haleiwa to become one of Hawaii’s first towns to ‘go green’. We feel that addressing the issue of single-use plastic consumption is a great way to start. The harmful effects of single-use plastic is overwhelming and stretches from the oil it takes to produce it, to the health issues it causes the consumer, to the cost of disposal, and finally to the marine life it kills.
Plastic Free Haleiwa is a coalition of community members and business owners that strives to educate the stores, restaurants and patrons of Haleiwa Town on the environmental and health benefits of going plastic free in order to minimize the consumption and pollution of plastics in our islands.
Plastic Free Haleiwa Goals:
1. To minimize the consumption of single-use plastics. Single use items include plastic bags, food take-out containers, styrofoam, plastic utensils, water bottles, etc.
2. To promote the human and environmental health benefits of going plastic free.
3. To provide a list of cost effective alternatives to single-use plastics: including re-usable bags and bottles, compostable bags and food wares.
4. To support and assist local government in passing plastic free legislation.
• Work with North Shore Chamber of Commerce to pass a nonbinding resolution asking the businesses of Haleiwa Town to join the coalition in reducing and ultimately eliminating their consumption and distribution of single-use plastics.
• Work with the Council Members of the City and County of Honolulu to pass Bill 84 to ban non-biodegradable plastic bag use.
5. To keep the campaign tone positive and looking towards a healthier future, rewarding those that participate without condemning those that do not.
We hope that you can join us in this effort and will encourage your friends, family and coworkers to participate in this important campaign. By working together we can make a difference for our neighborhood, island and world.
To view a PDF slideshow about plastics and how it impacts our health and environment, please click here and see how you can be a part of the positive change!
For a PDF of this page, CLICK HERE.
LINK to Honolulu Weekly’s article “Hale’iwa bags the plastic (hopefully)”