The battle to ban plastics from sale at major Australian supermarkets has begun, but Cronulla dentist Angie Lang was on the enviro-bandwagon ahead of the giants.
Dr Lang, 41, who is passionate about ocean health, successfully got the attention of Nandos, which responded to her tweet about fast food chains selling plastic straws in their restaurants.
“I was at the airport coming back from a conference, and saw a sticker on a straw dispenser at Hungry Jack’s that read, “a straw is very nice to sip through the ice,’’’ she said.
“It made me think – do we really need straws? As kids we’re taught to drink through sippy cups.
“So I tweeted the photo to all the fast food chains in Australia.
“Only one – Nandos, responded, six months later.
“They said they were working on a trial to roll-out the removal of straws and plastic cutlery in their stores.”
Woolworths now also says it will ban plastic straws from sale from the end of this year, after a move also adopted by Coles, to ban disposable plastic bags by the end of June this year.
It is a timely move ahead of World Oceans Day (June 8).
Dr Lang says it is a fantastic initiative.
“Straws slip through garbage bins and end up causing a lot of harm in the ocean,” she said.
“Majority of fish contain micro-plastics. This is a long-term sustainability issue.”
Dr Lang has also taken proactive steps to reduce waste at the practice where she works, Maven Dental Group.
“From an infections control perspective, there has been a huge shift to single use plastics. The industry was quite stagnant in that area,” she said.
“We changed from plastic to paper cups, and we have a recycling bin for toothpaste and toothbrushes in our waiting room. It all gets up-cycled into children’s furniture.”
Her work in environmental sustainability also got the attention of Virgin founder, Sir Richard Branson.
In December this year she will fly to his private Carribean Necker Island in the US as part of a global group of entrepreneurs called Change Makers Rule Breakers.
There she will discuss global environmental issues with fellow leaders and help with a recovery mission following Hurricane Irma’s destruction in 2017.
