 Plastic – not so fantastic
The global problem and what’s being done about it
Plastic shopping bags are recognised worldwide as an environmental hazard.
They are made from non-renewable crude oil, coal and gas and create litter, clog waterways and threaten wildlife.
Many cities and countries have already banned or taxed them.
It is estimated that one trillion bags are used and discarded worldwide every year.
They are particularly problematic because they can:
- last up to 1000 years in the waste stream.
- float easily in air and water, travelling long
distances.
It is estimated that one trillion bags are used and
discarded worldwide every year.
High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), the thin
'singlet' bags used by the majority of retailers, poses the
biggest environmental threat.
Waitakere City Council cannot recycle HDPE bags because of the high cost of
doing so.
View a
list of plastic shopping bag
alternatives and
suppliers of these products
Plastic bag use in New Zealand
New Zealanders currently:
- use 1.14 billion plastic bags a year
- dump 913 kg of plastic shopping bags every hour
- dispose of 8,000 tonnes of plastic shopping bags in landfill sites throughout New Zealand every year
A recent survey undertaken by the Zero Waste Trust,
showed that 56% percent of respondents felt the number of
plastic shopping bags handed out by supermarkets were
unnecessary and that 80% of New Zealand shoppers believe
supermarkets could do more to reduce the numbers of plastic
bags they give out.
What's happening in New Zealand?
Waitakere
In a recent survey, 80% of participants said the council
should work with retailers to 'eliminate' plastic bags from
the city altogether.
Waitakere City Council has responded with this Bags Not!
campaign to work with retailers and community groups to
encourage the use of reusable shopping bags. The campaign is
also a visual way to help raise awareness amongst residents
of the issues relating to the overuse of plastic shopping
bags and the alternatives available.
A forum in early 2009 hosted by Mayor Bob Harvey and
attended by over 40 local retailers, including The Trusts,
Westfield and the two major supermarket groups Foodstuffs
New Zealand and Progressive Enterprises, led to an agreement
to work together to reduce the distribution and consumption
of plastic bags in Waitakere.
Within Waitakere, the townships of Green Bay and Titirangi
have already had some success with their own local
initiatives to reduce plastic bag use .
Christchurch
Christchurch City Council is trialling the collection of plastic
shopping bags from the kerbside as part of it regular recycling service.
Dunedin
Dunedin's retailers and shoppers confronted the city's plastic bag use
with a 'Plastic Bags Aren't Free' Day on August 15, 2009. Organised by
the 2009 Dunedin Secondary Students' Climate Forum and supported by
around 3,000 high school students and Dunedin City Council, the event
raised awareness of the economic, environmental and social costs of
current plastic bag use with stalls and activities throughout downtown
Dunedin.
Nationally
A national packaging accord signed by major supermarkets in 2004 and the
resulting 'Make A Difference' campaign has reportedly helped to reduce
plastic shopping bag usage by 20 percent.
Supermarkets and other large retailers, such as Farmers and The
Warehouse, have since introduced reusable shopping bags for sale.
New Zealand's Waste Minimisation Act 2008 encourages people to become
more responsible for the costs of wasteful behaviour. The Act encourages
purchasers, manufacturers and retailers to enter into 'product
stewardship' schemes, whereby manufacturers and retailers take back
products when consumers are finished with them. This in turn encourages
manufacturers and retailers to make and sell products that are
recyclable or reusable.
Grassroots efforts
Grassroots efforts are popping up around the country in a bid to
eliminate plastic shopping bags.
Collingwood, a South Island town of 400 residents and eight retailers,
announced in 2006 that it would go completely plastic shopping bag free,
making it the first town in New Zealand to take such a stance.
In Wanaka, the 'Bag
the Habit' campaign to eliminate plastic shopping bag usage has
already persuaded nearly half of its residents to kick the plastic bag
habit.
Greymouth's 'Bag Lady' is making cheap, attractive and re-usable
shopping bags that will soon be available throughout the West Coast.
Global action
Around the world, a variety of measures have been used to reduce plastic
bag manufacture, sale and use.
In Ireland plastic bag usage dropped by a staggering 90% after the
introduction of a 10p tax on plastic bag purchases.
Other countries have gone a step further to introduce bans. China has
put a stop to the production and sale of ultra-thin plastic bags, while
South Australia has just banned plastic checkout bags outright.
The environmental impacts of plastic bags are also being felt in
developing countries like Bangladesh, which banned them as a result of
their impact on the country's drainage system.
Israel, Canada, western India, Botswana, Kenya, South Africa, Taiwan and
Singapore have also banned, or are moving towards banning, the plastic
bag.
In 2007, San Francisco became the first city in the United States to ban
plastic bags.
The following countries have committed communities and cities working to
make a positive difference:
| Africa |
| Botswana |
Cameroon |
Eritrea |
| Ghana |
Kenya |
Rwanda |
| Somalia |
South Africa |
Tanzania |
| Uganda |
Zanzibar |
|
| Asia/Pacific |
| Australia |
Bangladesh |
Bhutan |
| China |
Hong Kong |
India |
| Indonesia |
Japan |
Nepal |
| New Zealand |
Pakistan |
Papua New Guinea |
| Samoa |
Singapore |
Taiwan |
| Europe |
| Denmark |
Finland |
France |
| Germany |
Holland |
Ireland |
| Italy |
Scotland |
Sweden |
| Switzerland |
UK |
|
| Americas |
| Brazil |
Canada |
USA |
|
