As Year 4 explore pioneers, these 'Green Action Heroes' have taken on a new frontier. After Josie Sill and her family discussed the excessive waste output made from berry punnets, these writers came together, sacrificing lunches, to assemble a series of letters holding supermarkets and berry farmers accountable.

Dear Driscolls,

Firstly we want to thank you for providing us with delicious berries. We are a group of Year 4’s at St Joseph’s Primary School and enjoy your berries for our fruit snacks in the morning. We saw on your website that you value sustainability, so we have some suggestions so that we can all continue eating your fruits without costing the environment.

We are concerned about the amount of plastic waste that you are using with your punnets. It has come to our concern that berry punnets aren’t reusable. If each Australian family is using 2 berry punnets a week, that leads to 96,220,000 blueberry punnets a year. The reason we need to change berry punnets is because they are a single-use plastic. Plastic is bad because it takes around a thousand years to fully break down. The plastic containers that don’t end up in the right bin could end up in our oceans. Plastic can release a harmful chemical into the ground that affects the ecosystem, which can then harm the animals that drink the polluted water. 

Although the punnets could be recycled, we believe that reducing our waste is always a better alternative.  You have stated in your website that we, “(You) are committed to making continual progress towards waste reduction and better care for the natural and social resources on which we depend.” This is an opportunity for you to prove that what you are saying is true.

We have some suggestions about how we could reuse the punnets and create less waste. Firstly, what about collecting the used punnets and re-supplying them to the farmers? We would be happy to help with creating collection stations, starting with our school. The idea of being pioneers in attacking this problem excites us, and we are prepared to help.

Finally, you could insist that people bring in their own reusable containers to fill with berries. People could use the berry punnets that they already have now, or other containers. This way, we aren’t producing more waste. 

Whatever option you choose, you would be making a huge difference and contribution to our future. Not choosing would have very negative consequences for all of us. 

Thank you. Please help us fight against this problem.

From Green Action Heroes

Juliana L, Hamish D, Ebenezer A, Josie S and Amy D.

"The future depends on what you do today." Mahatma Gandhi