Ask Chupa Chups to STOP using plastic sticks

Two Hands Project is delighted to learn that Chupa Chups, the multi-million dollar confectionary manufacturer will be working on developing an alternative to plastic sticks for their lollipops.

The announcement on the company's Facebook page came yesterday following only ten days of relentless lobbying from supporters of Two Hands's campaign “Ask Chupa Chups to STOP using plastic sticks”, with hundreds of supporters posting on Chupa Chups page in the short time that the campaign was active.

Founder of Two Hands Project, Paul Sharp commented “Plastic lollipop sticks are used for a couple of minutes but stay in the environment for centuries. We are thrilled to hear Chupa Chups are taking a step forward for the environment and now hope to consult with them to guide their choice of material and help them develop a stick from sustainable materials such as FSC paper or bamboo”.

Chupa Chups have also stated that their current plastic stick is recyclable, and if disposed of properly, the environmental problem would be minimized. However, Paul states that:
“Upwards of 200 kilos of polluting plastic still ends up in our ecosystems each second causing massive environmental problems. To solve the pollution problem we are seeing, industry must develop sustainable plastic-free replacement materials which don't stay in and cause serious harm to our environment.”

Astral Sligo, initiator of the action and Two Hands Project online campaigner added, “While tens of thousands of us are cleaning up lollipop sticks every day, it would only take around ten people in top-level Chupa Chup management to decide to stop putting plastics into the environment. Actually, it would only take one management person to suggest it.”

Astral, an Auckland resident, started the campaign after being involved in organised beach clean-ups around New Zealand, as well as regularly picking up plastic pollution while running or walking. “I was so tired of seeing such needless pollution. These very aerodynamic sticks aren’t thrown deliberately on the beach, but are either disposed of carelessly, or carefully in rubbish bins in the city (or fall out when a rubbish bin is emptied), then maybe driven by the wind into the storm drains, then washed out to sea where they may be affecting marine life, before washing up on our beaches. Not just in the Hauraki Gulf, but in Australia, America, Italy, Spain, Hong Kong and many other countries around the world. It was time to aim for the top – turn off the pollution at the source. I’m so pleased that the Chupa Chups team responded to our concerns, and I am excited to see how they will rethink their design and manufacturing processes.”

“This forward thinking by Chupa Chups should serve as an example to the beverage industry that produces upwards of one third of plastic pollution found on our coastlines, perhaps it’s time to adopt refillable bottling and refund systems to curb their contribution to the plastic tide” says Paul.

Two Hands and their supporters and colleagues are working towards a change in the way society uses and produces plastic, to eliminate plastic as an environmental pollutant and threat to wildlife. Plastic lollipop sticks are a major type of plastic pollution. Two Hands and its supporters find tens of thousands of them in our oceans, on our streets, beaches and inside our wildlife each year. Plastic lollipop sticks have even been found inside deceased sea turtles.

Two Hands Project wishes to thank everyone who spoke up for the environment by asking Chupa Chups to stop using plastic sticks.