Here are some questions that are often asked about plastic bags. The questions are listed first. You can click a particular question to jump down the page to the answer.
How many plastic bags are used in Australia?
What do Australians think about plastic bags?
What is the life span of a plastic bag?
What is the Australian government doing to reduce
plastic check-out bags?
How do other countries handle the plastic bag problem?
How can my town go Plastic Check-Out Bag Free?
What can retailers do to reduce plastic check-out bag
usage in their retail outlet?
What can I do to reduce my own plastic bag usage?
Where can I purchase a reusable bag for my shopping?
What are plastic bags made from?
By reducing plastic check-out bags isn't that just going to
increase the sale of garbage bags as many people reuse
their shopping bags as kitchen bin liners?
What can I use for my garbage bin instead of reusing my
plastic check-out bags?
What about biodegradable plastic check-out bags?
How many plastic bags are used in Australia?
20 million Australians are currently using around 5 billion plastic check-out bags every year.
Combine the number of bags we use every year with the time it takes for them to break down and you have a major environmental problem.
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What do Australians think about plastic bags?
An August 2004 Roy Morgan study commissioned by Planet Ark found that 93% of Australians questioned were concerned about the impact that plastic bags had on the environment.
50% of people questioned were particularly concerned about the impact of plastic bags on wildlife.
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What is the life span of a plastic bag?
Plastic bags take between 15 and 1000 years to break down in the environment.
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What is the Australian government doing to reduce plastic check-out bags?
The Federal Government and the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) have agreed to cut plastic check-out bag usage by 50 per cent by the end of 2005.
Environment Ministers support the total phasing out of light weight single use plastic check-out bags within five years.
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How do other countries handle the plastic bag problem?
Some countries have introduced a levy, others have even banned plastic check-out bags.
- Ireland - In May 2002, a 15 euro-cent (25c) levy was placed on plastic supermarket checkout bags. This scheme saw a 90% reduction in plastic bag use in Ireland in the first 5 months.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2205419.stm
- The South African Government banned the use of thin plastic bags in May 2003. Retailers handing out the bags now face a fine of 100,000 rand ($13,800) or a 10-year jail sentence. The legislation means shoppers will either have to take bags with them when they go shopping, or buy new, thick, stronger plastic bags that are easier and more profitable to recycle.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3013419.stm
Rwanda and the self declared Republic of Somaliland have also both banned thin plastic shopping bags.
Kenya is expected to also ban plastic bags after Wangari Mathaai, the 2005 Nobel peace prize winner, linked plastic bag litter with malaria. When discarded, the bags can fill with rainwater, offering ideal breeding grounds for the malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
- In August 2003, the state government banned plastic bags in Himachal Pradesh, in northern India. In this Indian state plastic bags not only caused floods but were were also widely blamed for killing foraging cows. The government banned the manufacture, sale and use of all plastic bags.
Similar laws now also apply in Mumbai, western Indian state of Maharashtra, Sikkim, Goa, Kerala and Karnatak states. banned in September 2005.
Manufacturers and stores selling plastic bags are fined or face imprisonment. The ban in these states had been prompted by the indiscriminate use of plastic bags, which blocked sewage and drainage systems during record monsoon rains. As a result, flooding and landslides killed more than 1,000 people in the state.
- In many European countries, such as Germany, Denmark and Switzerland, retailers charge for plastic check-out bags of their own accord without any government legislation in place.
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How can my town go Plastic Check-Out Bag Free?
- Designate a local champion to coordinate your town's Plastic Bag Free campaign. The coordinator can be anyone that is willing - the coordinator of the Coles Bay Plastic Bag Free Town campaign was Ben Kearney, the local bakery owner!
- Educate retailers and residents about the issues surrounding plastic check-out bags - please read the information on this website to help you.
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What can retailers do to reduce plastic check-out bag usage in their retail outlet?
- Offer reusable bag options such as calico and paper bags for sale to customers.
- Educate staff to promote reusable bag options to all customers by saying, "would you like to buy a reusable bag?"
- Train staff to ask customers "do you need a bag?" with their purchase.
- Put plastic bag reduction posters and reusable bags
near check-out tills.
- Create local PR. Don't give away free plastic
bags, charge 10 cents per bag and give the proceeds to local charities.
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What can I do to reduce my own plastic bag usage?
Say NO to plastic check-out bags whilst shopping and buy reusable bags or bring your own for your shopping instead.
TIP - After unpacking your groceries, remember to put your reusable bags back on the driver's seat of your car that way you wont forget them the next time you shop!
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Where can I purchase a reusable bag for my shopping?
You can buy reusable bags at all leading supermarkets.
You can purchase a long-lasting reusable 'Go Green' bag at Coles and Bi-Lo supermarkets for only $1. Ten cents from the sale of every Go Green bag provides support to environmental initiatives of Planet Ark, Clean Up Australia and Landcare Australia.
The benefits of reusable bags:
- Calico bags and Coles supermarket Go Green bags hold twice as many items as plastic bags.
- Reusable bags are easier to carry as they have comfortable handles and some can even go over your shoulder.
- Calico and polypropylene reusable bags will not burst under the weight of heavy shopping items such as tins or soft drinks.
- The plastic bags we don't use don't have to be produced, recycled or disposed of. Every plastic bag we don't use makes the world safer for wildlife.
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What are plastic bags made from?
There are 2 types of plastic bags:
- High density polyethylene (HDPE) - singlet bags which are predominantly used in supermarkets, fresh produce, take-away food and other non-branded applications.
- Low density polyethylene (LDPE) - boutique style bag that are generally branded and used to carry higher value goods.
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By reducing plastic check-out bags isn't that just going to increase the sale of garbage bags as many people reuse their shopping bags as kitchen bin liners?
A 90% reduction of plastic check-out bags has been achieved in Ireland when a $0.25c levy was introduced on all plastic shopping bags.
Some Irish stores have increased their sales of kitchen bin liners by up to 77%. If you look beyond the percentages the actual numerical figures illustrate the tremendous success of the Irish bag levy:
- A 90% reduction in plastic check-out bag usage resulted in an estimated 1.15 billion less plastic bags being given away at the checkout every year.
- The 77% increase in kitchen bin liner sales only increased the amount sold by an estimated maximum of 70 million plastic bags.
Therefore there is an overall reduction in plastic bag usage of over 1.08 billion plastic bags.
If the same situation was replicated in Australia i.e. a 90% decrease in plastic bag usage and a 77% increase in kitchen tidy bag sales, this would reduce the amount of plastic bags used in Australia every year by over 5 billion.
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What can I use for my garbage bin instead of reusing my plastic check-out bags?
- Purchase biodegradable garbage bags. Planet Ark endorses Mater-Bi corn starch bags. You can purchase these from Earth Basics in packs of 50. Ph: 02 6280 4128.
- Use old newspapers to line your garbage bin or wrap your rubbish in. Or don't use a bin liner at all - some bins have pull out buckets that you can rinse out when you have emptied out your rubbish. Once you rinse your bin, empty this water into your garden.
- Maximise your recycling. Nearly 50% of Australians are still confused about recycling (Roy Morgan Planet Ark study, August 2004) - to find out exactly what you can recycle in your area go to www.RecyclingNearYou.com.au
- If possible, use a compost or worm farm for your food and garden waste. This can reduce the amount of waste in your rubbish bin by up to 50%.
- Buy non-degradable garbage bags at the supermarket. This will give you a financial incentive to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and to maximise your recycling. Purchased bin liners are generally larger than shopping bags and thus require less frequent emptying. Their use will result in
reduced plastic use overall, as a large single garbage
bag carries more waste than a single use plastic check-out bag.
TIP - For rinsing your bin, you can use the grey water from your washing machine (this may currently be connected to your laundry sink). For more information about grey water recycling please go to: www.planetark.com/greywater
TIP - Whilst preparing food, have a few sheets of newspaper laid out on your bench top. Put your fruit or vegetable waste straight onto the laid out newspaper and wrap once finished. This can go straight into your compost. If you do not have a compost bin, place the wrapped vegetable waste in your garbage bin - it will then break down naturally in landfill.
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What about biodegradable plastic check-out bags?
Planet Ark's Plastic Bag Reduction campaign is focussed on reducing the billions of plastic shopping bags used by Australians every year.
We don't want Australians to substitute the habit of using billions of shopping bags with billions of biodegradable bags.
Planet Ark believes the best current option is for people to use long-life reusable bags as this reduces the need for disposable bags altogether. The disposable bags we don't use, don't have to be produced, recycled or disposed of.
Biodegradable shopping bags are still a very sensitive issue in Australia due to the following reasons:
- There is still some doubt that all biodegradable bags really do degrade as promised.
- There are many 'biodegradable' plastic bags making misleading statements about their degradability properties. Biodegradable products must break down in water, sun and in landfill. As yet, to the best of our knowledge, no company has passed all of these tests.
- Using biodegradable shopping bags may promote littering as people think the bags will break down in the environment no matter how they are disposed of.
- Until biodegradable products actually break down they still pose the same danger as non-biodegradable plastic bags and hence have the same short term potential to harm wildlife and create litter problems as non-biodegradable products.
- Even if biodegradable bags do break down it is not known, at this stage, what is left over once the biodegradation takes place. These leftover pieces could be just as harmful as plastic bags if ingested by animals.
- There are also concerns that biodegradable products may contaminate the plastic bag recycling stream. Biodegradable bags are made of different chemicals to non-degradable plastic shopping bags and have the potential to contaminate this recycling process.
Once a biodegradable bag standard is set in Australia, biodegradable options will hopefully be a suitable alternative for garbage bags, bread, fruit and vegetable bags, and other packaging.
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