Are You Ready For A Ban On Plastic Bags?

[icyfroth]

A message from Greenpeace in my inbox this morning:
    
"Under the surface of New South Wales’ beautiful beaches and rivers, there’s a huge problem that’s choking our marine life - the problem: plastic bags.

In Sydney Harbour alone, scientists have found of the 30% of mullet fish and 13% of the bream they caught had some sort of plastic in their guts.

The numbers are staggering and they don’t end there. Up to 50 million plastic bags are littered every year, with way too many ending up in Australian waterways and floating into the ocean.

In New South Wales, it’s estimated that at least 16.5 million plastic bags enter the litter stream every year.

The average plastic bag is only used for 12 minutes before it’s discarded! 12 minutes of use!! And about another 1,000 years in our waterways!!!
It’s just crazy!!!
The good news is there’s a simple, ready-to-go solution - a ban on single-use plastic bags.

Call on New South Wales’ Environment Minister Mark Speakman to ban the bag now.

Australia’s four smallest states and territories banned single-use plastic bags years ago. But the biggest four states - including NSW - still won’t act.
They’ve talked about banning plastic bags for 8 years now. Just a few months ago, they delayed the decision again.

But around the world, plastic bags are being phased out - San Francisco, Rwanda, Italy and Bangladesh have joined South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and Northern Territory in banning them.
South Australia’s ban has saved our environment from at least 400 million plastic bags - and South Australians love it!

We know the problem, and we have the solution. So what’s the hold-up, Minister Speakman?

If we can convince the him to act, NSW could lead the other states who are lagging behind - and Australia could be free of single-use plastic bags.
And that’s a future to be proud of.
We know that Environment Minister Mark Speakman and the NSW Government do care about our oceans.
Just last month, thanks to tens of thousands of us speaking out, we secured a world’s best recycling system for the state!

Tell Environment Minister Mark Speakman to move forward and ban the bag in New South Wales now."


12 minutes of use and 1000 years in the environment.
Time to take your own bags to the supermarket, ppl.

There's no real escape from plastic bags. They're insidious. I always have my own foldaway shopping bag in my handbag for incidental purchases, and keep my own recyclable shopping bags in the boot of my car for big shopping,

Still manage to accumulate plastic shopping bags, though. I keep them stuffed in a large plastic bag 

I do reuse them as bin liners or packaging, but they ulimately still pollute.

[bright.ton42]

Yes it horrifies me what they do to marine life and the horrible deaths they die.   I take my own bags to the supermarket but occasionally use one of their plastic bags but the fact is if they weren't there I'd find another way, we all would.  Like you Icy I often use them for garbage bags and I think they'd end up in ground waste that way,  but they're still much too available. People who shop at Aldis have adapted to their no plastic bags regime so it can be done.

[esayaf]

The earth needs a ban on all plastic. It's one thing for fish to have plastic in their stomachs but the micro plastic particles pass from the gut to the flesh.
We rarely eat fish guts but eat a lot of fish flesh. All ocean fish now contains micro plastic particles in their flesh

[lind9650]

I have been using my own bags for a very long time now, and reuse any plastic bags for garbage that goes into landfill.

I too wuld like to see all plastic gone. Microwave containers, silicon baking trays and plastic milk bottles just to name a few. I am reusing glass and tin containers, even replacing plastic lids on jars and bottles with tin lids or corks. Got some nice big corks for some of my storage jars from the Hardware shop.

We can all help a little to save the enviroment. I am not a GREENIE, but I am concerned about the future for my great-grandchildren.

Erica

[davidc4430]

plastic shopping bags were banned in south australia 4/5/09

now we have reusable non biodegradable bags.

good people replace bags every so often as they become soiled. not so good people turn up at the shops with very dirty smelly bags.

the bags that get replaced, they end up in land fill, and never break down.

i would have been much happier if they just replaced the throw away bags with biodegradable bags.

we just removed one problem and introduced another.

now i have about 15 reusable bags on the back seat of the car, plus some around the house. when you find yourself out without your bags you have to buy another. $1 each.

they are now offering plastic bags again but not free, 50 cents each, still not biodegradable.

i live at the beach, do i notice less plastic **bleep** washed up, nope.

good going guys, we used to get the bags free, reuse em as bin liners. now i buy bin liners.

do i think all this was done to save the enviroment? not for a minute, bin bag makers are winners. shopping bag makers are winners, the shopper is a loser and so is the enviroment.

[myoclon1cjerk]

And if you think those contraptions that scent your home are safe and natural,think again.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/toxic-perfumes-and-colognes/

[esayaf]

Those air fresheners make me feel sick. Was at the home of a bloke I worked for years ago and they had one on their kitchen table and I didn't notice it until it sprayed me right in the face. I had to go home sick and lost a days pay. Not surprisingly I never went in his house again for a cup of tea before we headed off to work

[amber-eyed-girl]

Exactly what I was thinking.

Plastic bags are replaced by the reusable ones...and everyone needs to buy bags for the trash.

Biodegradable bags are available to buy, I have only seen them be used by one supermarket at checkout.

[twyngwyn]

S.A has been 'doing it' for years.....the downside....I have approx 50 recyclable bags in my boot....AND THEY BREED

[*tippy*toes*]

My local IGA had biodegradeable plastic bags for awhile, then they stopped having them and went back to regular ones. Only reason I can think of is cost. I think they were made from wheat or something and broke down really quickly into nothing.

I also don't think the enviro bags are the way to go either. My local tip is chock full of them. Most are made from polypropylene, which takes longer to break down than plastic bags and disposible nappies. Why can't we go back to paper bags like we used to have back in the olden days? I know they are harder to carry when you've got more than 2, but what's stopping people pushing them in a trolley to the car?

One thing I saw as a real problem when I used to go fishing off shore was those plastic rings that hold a 6 pack together. They were everywhere in the water. We used to often bring back a boat load of rubbish to put in the bin that we'd fished out of the water (pun not intended). Plastic bags were always in abundance, but those plastic 6 pack rings, they were everywhere.

They are dangerous to the marine life because creatures get their head stuck in them and they can't get them off. The rare time I would buy something that had them on, I use to put a cut through each ring. Even though all my rubbish went to the tip, I wasn't taking any chances in the event it ended up in the water some how.

It amazes me how the world had been plodding along quite nicely for millions and millions of years and we have all but destroyed it in the last 150 years. I'm far from being a Greenie, but you don't have to be a genius to see what's happened. As time goes on, we'll continue to destroy it until there is nothing left.