Bishop Museum Ditches Single-Use Plastic

The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, together with partners Shop Pacifica and Bishop Museum Café by Highway Inn, have eliminated the sale of all single-use plastics on its campus.

Museum officials hope the single-use plastic free campaign will set an example of sustainability and conservation in Hawaiʻi.

“Sustainability is one of our core values and we’re committed to demonstrating change by taking action and instituting sustainable practices throughout our organization,” museum CEO Melanie Ide said in a press release.

Ide added that the museum recently installed water bottle filling stations, as well as signs to inform visitors about the impact of reducing single-use plastics throughout its premises. Educators are also including a waste-free lunch curriculum into the museumʻs field trip materials.

“Behind the scenes, our employees are supplying their own reusable cups, plates, and utensils for meetings and minimizing plastic waste wherever possible, even bringing used plastic packaging and bubble wrap from home for re-use by Bishop Museum Press to pack books for mail order fulfillment. It truly is a campus-wide, team effort,” Ide continued.

The Museum partnered with the Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation’s Plastic Free Hawaiʻi and the Surfrider Foundation on the initiative.

Both groups consulted with Museum staff to identify opportunities to reduce plastic waste and educate visitors on the impact of plastic.

Additionally, the Plastic Free Pipeline, an interactive sculpture made from 2,000 feet of derelict fishing nets and marine debris collected from Kahuku Beach on Oʻahu’s North Shore, has been installed on the Museum’s campus.

Created by artist-scientist Ethan Estess, the sculpture is featured in conjunction with the Museum’s newest exhibition, “Mai Kinohi Mai: Surfing in Hawaiʻi.”

“Mai Kinohi Mai connects our local and international audiences in celebrating surfing’s deep roots in Hawaiian culture, and brings attention to the urgent need to protect our ocean’s health in the face of climate change and the pollutants that are affecting our environment and lives,” Ide said.

The Johnson ʻOhana Foundation funded the installation of the Plastic Free Pipeline sculpture.