A group of "passionate" Rotorua girls have motivated a New Zealand bread producer to fast-track its plan in eliminating plastic bread bag tags.
Malfroy School students Amelia Foote-Webb,12, Jennika Kumar,10, and Snigdha Raikar,9, are on a mission to rid the country of the non-recyclable plastic product.
The students were selected to take part in Fair Go's Consumer Hero Challenge last year.
"It's not healthy for the environment," said Kumar.
The group paid a visit to the George Weston Foods factory in Auckland late last year, encouraging the company to remove plastic tags from bread packaging.
George Weston Foods Limited baking division general manager Mark Bosomworth said the passion and commitment of the Malfroy students was "really inspiring".
The company was already looking into introducing recyclable cardboard tags, but after meeting the girls he said the firm adjusted the plan and "committed to speeding up the change out of plastic tags".
"Those three students certainly moved things along," he said.
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Advertise with NZME.Earlier this month Foote-Webb, Kumar and Raikar made their way up to the Auckland factory for a second time and got to witness the cardboard tags being used in production.
Kumar said she felt "magnificent" when she first saw the action first-hand.
"It was amazing to see all the bread tags going on," she said.
Raikar said despite the initial shock, she was "happy" to see the introduction of the tags.
"We feel happy that we have made a change in New Zealand to make the environment a better place," she said.
From August 13, GWF replaced plastic tags with fully recyclable cardboard ones on Ploughmans Bakery and Bürgen bread.
In a written statement, the company said it was the first step in its elimination programme, which would remove 7 million tags from the waste stream in the first year.
The company said it would progressively ensure all packaging across these brands was 100 per cent recyclable or reusable by 2025.
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Malfroy School teacher Helen Ramsdale told the Rotorua Daily Post this project proved young people could create change.
"The concern for the class in terms of plastic is really real," Ramsdale said.
"Their efforts have inspired me, and these guys are an inspiration to their classmates as well to know that change is possible. Kids can have a voice.
"The girls were amazing because they were passionate about the change they were making."
Bosomworth said thanks to the interest generated by the young students, the rest of the industry was following their lead.
"When you're in the room with them, you really don't want to say 'no', even though you know it will involve a lot more work," he said.
"What is clear is that, without realising it, they speak for a lot of people – young and old - who can see an issue and just want to see something done."
Bread producer Nature's Fresh announced it would phase in recyclable cardboard bread tags one day a week from August 14.
Bosomworth said the process of switching over to cardboard tags was "far more complex" than people might imagine.
"We don't make tags or bag-closing machinery, but we do know that to keep bread fresh and tasty, tags must be able to close tightly and withstand wide variations in heat and moisture."
The company had to find a new supplier who made cardboard tags that were also "robust enough" to stand up to the different ways bags were store-handled.
"We also had to purchase and install six new bag closing machines, engineered specifically to handle these new tags. And we had to ensure continuity of supply of cardboard tags once we had transitioned."
