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South Australia has become the first Australian state to put a complete ban on plastic bags.
The Plastic Shopping Bags (Waste Avoidance) Bill was passed in the Upper House of the South Australian parliament yesterday and will be phased in between January 1 and 4 May, 2009.
Under the new law all retailers, including supermarkets, will face on-the-spot fines for distributing single-use, light-weight polyethylene shopping bags.
Co-founder of Planet Ark Jon Dee said the bill is a landmark decision.
"After all the talk by Environment Ministers about phasing out plastic bags, we finally have a state that has passed legislation to ban them at the checkout," he said. "This is a major win for the six year old campaign to achieve a national ban or levy on plastic bags."
The ban follows a dramatic increase in the number of plastic bags used by Australians over the past few years.
Earlier this year the Environment Protection and Heritage Committee released new figures which showed that plastic bag usage in Australia increased by 600 million plastic bags in just one year.
Dee hopes the ban in South Australia will help reduce the effect of plastic bags on the environment.
"Last year, Australians used over four billion plastic checkout bags, most of which ended up in landfill or the environment," he said. "We are very hopeful that this ban will lead to a significant reduction in the number of marine animals that are killed or injured every year by plastic bags."
"National approach is best"
Last week, State Environment ministers met in Adelaide for a meeting of the Environment Protection and Hertiage Council to discuss the issue of plastic bag reduction and the results of a recent trial in Victoria where three major supermarkets added a 10-cent levy to all plastic bags sold.
The successful trial, that reduced the number of plastic bags by 79 per cent, has inspired a similar 12 month trial in the ACT. Tasmania and the Northern Territory are drafting proposals.
Dee said a national approach is the best way to combat plastic bags but Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett is putting it off by calling for more reports and research. He said South Australia was frustrated and went ahead with a statewide ban.
Dee, who is also the organiser of The National Plastic Bag Campaign, believes the best way to go forward is to add a charity charge on plastic bags.
"We're recommending that plastic bags be made biodegradable and pink with five cents from each bag charge going to a national cancer fund," he said."*
South Australia joins China, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Rwanda who have banned light weight plastic bags.
* Correction: the term 'biodegradable' should have been in the original quote.
Comments
This will educate more toinvest in green re-usable plastic. Sometimes we need forces to change. I agree with the ban. People will be glad they did when they see their contribution in the future.
Will
Also, it is not difficult to get into the habit of taking them with you every time you are going to enter a shop, even if you don't have intentions of buying something (in response to the above comment about not having bags if you're just browsing). I applaud my local organic supermarket, which doesn't provide plastic bags at all - if you're not prepared and don't bring your own reusable bags, then they will supply you with a second-hand cardboard box. Bunnings are also to be commended on not providing plastic bags to customers. Another point to make is that if you don't have a reusable bag with you when shopping, then carrying the item or items in your hand, or even handbag, is an alternative.
Its a great initiative and congratulations to south Australia for banning plastic bags. Everyday millions of pieces of plastic are disgarded and thrown away. In the pacific ocean there is a floating garbage patch twice the size of texas and it contains over 100 million tonnes of plastic. As the plastic degrades it releases chemicals and small shards which then enter into the food chain, polluting ecosystems throughout the ocean. Plastic production and disposal continues to pollute the atmosphere and adds to the global warming effect. We need to immediately reduce the ammount of plastics we consume or face further degradation and pollution.
Good on you South Australia! Unfortunately many people are not motivated to bring their own bags unless there is a penalty; a small charge, or simply no bag at all!
Hooray for South Australia! They certainly seem to be the leaders when it comes to environmental issues in Australia. Also, if China, a country that appears to be the major creator of all things plastic, can ban plastic bags, why is it so difficult for Australia? Then again why is it so difficult for Australians to stop using plastic bags of their own accord? Surely we have seen enough stories over the years about the harm plastic bags cause to wildlife, especially marine creatures, let alone their higher carbon footprint compared to reusable bags and their contribution to landfill, to motivate us.
It's a shame that the general population of Australia clearly does need enforcement to stop such a horrible, unsustainable practice. I have been using the green bags religiously since their introduction into supermarkets several years ago (it's been quite a while now - maybe eight years?) and none of my original bags are anywhere near need of replacement. Also, it is not difficult to get into the habit of taking them with you every time you are going to enter a shop, even if you don't have intentions of buying something (in response to the above comment about not having bags if you're just browsing). I applaud my local organic supermarket, which doesn't provide plastic bags at all - if you're not prepared and don't bring your own reusable bags, then they will supply you with a second-hand cardboard box. Bunnings are also to be commended on not providing plastic bags to customers. Another point to make is that if you don't have a reusable bag with you when shopping, then carrying the item or items in your hand, or even handbag, is an alternative.
People really need to adopt the mindset that plastic bags are just not an option! For this to occur across the general Australian population any time soon, it's obvious we need legislation for this to happen!
Annette
Warnervale, NSW
I can't agree more with the comment made by 'davidinarmidale'. Peter Garrett seems to be someone who, despite claiming to be an environmentalist, is reluctant to establish initiatives such as a plastic bag ban (or levy) and a national container deposit scheme.
It appears as though South Australia is the only state that has been awake when the ideas of environmental sustainability and waste management were mentioned. Indeed, kudos to SA.
In regards to the central image (shown above) with the words 'use paper' mentioned, I believe that paper is not the most feasible alternative. It is important to bear in mind that, despite paper being biodegradable, it has 4 times more environmental footprint as compared to plastic, when calculated by a cradle-to-grave life analysis.
In a previous issue of G Magazine (I'm not sure which one exactly) when there was research on the most environmentally friendly bags, the 'green bags' made out of Polypropylene came out as the winners, followed by cotton bags.
Many say that biodegradable bags, generally derived from starch or cellulose, are the way to go. Not necessarily. It's important to consider that biodegradable bags will break down in aerobic conditions (i.e. containing containing Oxygen gas, to allow for the growth of micro-organisms which are responsible for breaking down biodegradable bags. In other words, biodegradable bags will still take a while time to biodegrade in landfills, because of the lack of Oxygen.
Fortunately these starch and cellulose biodegradable bags are less like to cause harm to marine wildlife and water birds compared to standard plastic bags.
I believe in the old adage 'less is more'. If you really want to maintain the equilibrium between convenience and environmental sustainability, reduce your plastic bag consumption, use reusable 'green' or calico bags for shopping, improvise and use bread bags to contain small amounts of waste (reusing) and, (despite what's mentioned above), use biodegradable bags for waste. At least the biodegradable bags will not affect marine wildlife.
Peter Garret would need more research to prove that humans need air, water and food to survive. He has proven to be a lame duck minister since day #1. Would he like to have the rotting corpses of some dead turtles or sea birds dumped on his desk as proof that plastic bags are bad for the environment? Perhaps he should go back to "singing" about issues and leave the "doing" to the serious politicians.
Good on you South Australia! Unfortunately many people are not motivated to bring their own bags unless there is a penalty; a small charge, or simply no bag at all!
Well i do agree to some extent, about the plastic bag, but the Target store is already charging 10cent per bag as from the week, i think that is a bit of what is called jumping the gun, as when one just goes browsing in to the shops, one does not expect to carry of our purchases of knickers etc, with out a bag.
The Indian state of Sikkim has also banned plastic bags.
Graham Simmons
Travel Writer/Photographer
Member, Australian Society of Travel Writers
Great! If only the whole world would join in!
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