Australia, the world’s second-best country (at plastic waste), is asking Aussies to send postcards to their MP calling for change. Yo-Chi has backed Kal Glanznig’s documentary The Plastic Country, with free postcards to federal MPs in all 80 venues nationwide.
Australia is now the second-largest producer of plastic waste per person in the world. Australians are being encouraged to tell their MP exactly what they think about that, on a postcard.
All 80 Yo-Chi venues across the country will stock free tourism-style postcards crowning Australia ‘The World’s 2nd Best Country’ when it comes to plastic waste.
The postcards support The Plastic Country, the new documentary from ocean advocate Kal Glanznig. Each one is pre-addressed to the local federal MP, asking them to take the pledge for Absolutely, Positively, No More Plastic Country.
“Every tourism ad sells Australia as the beaches I grew up surfing on,” Glanznig said. “What they don’t show you is that we’re now one of the biggest producers of plastic waste per person on the planet which is impacting our shorelines, animals and our own health.”
The pledge calls for an end to Australia’s reliance on voluntary packaging schemes. Under that approach, the country has missed every 2025 National Packaging Target set in 2018. Australians are left paying for the waste through council rates and harm to the environment and their health, while producers avoid responsibility.
Yo-Chi’s own experience shows how far voluntary action can go, and where it stops. In 2022 the business stopped selling all bottled drinks and installed free still and sparkling water stations in every venue, with no purchase needed. Those stations have since given out more than 3.6 million litres of free water.
“We didn’t feel right about making profit off single-use plastic bottles, so we removed them. It cost us over half a million in lost sales but we wouldn’t change a thing” said Oliver Allis, Yo-Chi co-owner and chief brand officer.
Yo-Chi’s customers have already shown they’ll turn up for the cause. Earlier this year, its Bottle Battle campaign offered a buy-one-get-one-free Yo-Chi to anyone who brought in a reusable bottle.
In a single day, more than 101,000 customers walked in with one. “We were inspired by Kal’s documentary so I slid him a DM asking how we can support, we went for a surf, had a brainstorm in the water and now we’re here. We genuinely believe by showing politicians that plastic management is something our communities care about, that we can make real change,” Allis said.
Glanznig said the fix already existed. “We know how to solve this: make the companies producing the packaging responsible for it. Our MPs just need to hear that Australians want that, and a postcard is a pretty simple and creative way to tell them,” he said.
The Plastic Country follows Glanznig who grew up surfing in Cronulla, on a journey across the country.
It takes him from clean-ups in East Arnhem Land to wildlife hospitals and Parliament House, investigating how plastic is affecting our ecosystems, our politics and our health. The film is available to watch now at theplasticcountry.com or on YouTube.
How Australians can take part:
● Write to your MP. Pick up a free postcard at any Yo-Chi venue across Australia until the 5th November. It’s already addressed to your local federal MP, so just add your message and post it in the post-box in-venue.
● Watch the film. Scan the QR code on the postcard, or visit theplasticcountry.com
● Check your MP. See whether your MP has taken the pledge at: theplasticcountry.com/pledge-tracker
