Straits Times 11 Jan 08;
Canberra wants supermarkets to begin ending their use this year
SYDNEY - AUSTRALIA has followed China in announcing that it plans to end plastic bag use in supermarkets, with its new environment minister saying yesterday that he wants a phase-out to start by the end of the year.
'There are some four billion of these plastic bags floating around the place, getting into landfill, ending up affecting our wildlife and showing up on our beaches while we are on holidays,' Environment Minister Peter Garrett told local media yesterday.
China launched a crackdown on plastic bags on Tuesday, banning the production of ultra-thin bags - which are less durable and often require shop items to be double-bagged - and forbidding their use in supermarkets and shops from June 1.
'We should encourage people to return to carrying cloth bags, using baskets for their vegetables,' China's State Council said in a notice on the government's website.
Besides being an eyesore, plastic bags cause numerous problems, say environmental groups:
# They are made from a non-renewable natural resource - oil.
# They take up to 1,000 years to degrade.
# They cause harm to wildlife and livestock.
Turtles often mistake bags for jellyfish, while livestock can end up eating them and choking to death, say environmentalists.
In some countries, plastic bags can block sewers and drains, triggering rampant disease.
The Chinese use up to three billion plastic bags a day, and China has to refine five million tonnes - or 37 million barrels - of crude oil every year to make the plastics used for packaging, according to a report on the website of China Trade News.
Other countries such as Ireland, Uganda and South Africa have experimented with heavy taxes, outright bans or eliminating the thinnest plastic bags, while towns and cities have taken unilateral action to outlaw plastic bags.
In the US, the cities of San Francisco and Oakland in California have banned the bags, while legislation passed by the city council in New York on Wednesday means that large stores throughout the city must now provide bins for recycling them.
Environmentalists estimate that Americans throw away 100 billion plastic bags each year.
In Singapore, a whopping 2.5 billion plastic bags are used each year. Dumping them in the trash leads to them being incinerated, which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and contributes to global warming.
Bangladesh banned plastic bags four years ago when officials realised they blocked drains and led to flooding. Since then, shoppers have taken to using bags made of jute or cloth.
Mr Garrett said that he will meet with the leaders of Australia's six states and two territories in April to discuss the phasing-out of plastic bags.
'We've certainly had a system in place that's been voluntary up to now, where you've got people coming into the supermarkets and they have the opportunity to take up those canvas bags,' said Mr Garrett, whose centre-left Labor Party came to power in November.
But it is unclear how Australia will rid itself of plastic bags - whether it will issue an outright ban, like China, or impose a levy, like Ireland.
Mr Garrett said he was not personally in favour of a levy as it punishes shoppers.
Clean Up Australia chairman Ian Kiernan said: 'It has always been the policy of Labor to look at a total ban in 2008, and that is what minister Garrett is doing and we totally support that.
'But we are not in favour of a levy.
'We know that, with the Irish example, there was a dramatic reduction in the acceptance of plastic bags with the levy, but that started to creep back and it has not proved to be effective in the long term.'
REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Shopping without plastic: What others are doing
Straits Times 11 Jan 08;
# AFRICA
Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania's Zanzibar Islands have all banned flimsy plastic bags by introducing minimum thickness requirements.
Many independent supermarkets in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi charge a small fee for each plastic bag, and give away a free reusable basket with a minimum purchase.
# BRITAIN
British towns and stores decide for themselves how they use plastic bags. Some shopkeepers got rid of plastic bags altogether, while some big grocery chains now offer customers incentives to reuse old bags.
# CANADA
Leaf Rapids, Manitoba - a town of just 550 people - in April last year became the first municipality in North America to ban the use of plastic bags by shops. Those who flout the rule can be fined up to C$1,000 (S$1,420). Shoppers now use either paper or cloth bags.
# GERMANY
Most stores provide plastic bags and canvas or cotton totes - for a fee. The price of a plastic bag ranges from 5 euro cents (10 Singapore cents) to 50 euro cents, while canvas or cloth bags cost under a euro.
Many Germans carry their own bags when they shop. Some even use wicker baskets or wheeled carts.
# IRELAND
A 15 euro cent levy on every plastic shopping bag was introduced in 2003.
The use of plastic bags has dropped sharply as stores switched to paper bags or stopped handing out bags completely.
The fee was raised to 22 euro cents last July.
# SINGAPORE
Singapore launched the Bring Your Own Bag Day campaign in April last year to encourage shoppers to cut back on the use of plastic bags. It is now held on the first Wednesday of every month and involves 200 retailers.
To mark World Environment Day last year, more than 100,000 reusable bags were handed out to shoppers for free.
# UNITED STATES
San Francisco was the first US city to ban plastic grocery bags, and several smaller California communities followed suit. But stores can still use biodegradable plastic bags.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
