What the Tasmanian Liberals will do: Make Tasmania free of non-biodegradable plastic shopping bags within two years.
Coles Bay on Tasmania’s East Coast was the first town in Australia to go “plastic shopping bag free” and a Hodgman Liberal Government will move to remove non-biodegradable plastic shopping bags from across Tasmania.
Why this policy is needed
Plastic shopping bags are a common source of litter and contamination both on land and in our waterways.
By reducing our dependence on them and replacing them with suitable alternatives we can drastically reduce this type of pollution and have a positive effect on our wildlife and environment.
Once entering land fill, common plastic shopping bags can take up to 100 years or more to breakdown, and bags that aren’t buried can become a major hazard for our marine environment. Each year, an estimated half a million of these bags are picked up during Clean Up Australia Day.
The production of single use, non biodegradable plastic shopping bags consumes significant resources including energy, water and materials that could be avoided through the use of suitable reusable alternatives.
A recent study commissioned by the Victorian Government showed that over the period of one year, an average household can save 6 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions, over 190 megajoules of energy (enough to power a television for six months) and 7 litres of water simply by replacing single use plastic shopping bags with reusable bags that are readily available from supermarkets. If every household in Tasmania could make the change we could all make a positive difference.
A Hodgman Liberal Government will work closely with retailers in the implementation of this ban over 2 years.
Tasmania’s major supermarkets are already encouraging consumers to use reusable bags by providing them at nominal cost. In addition, a number of major retailers such as Bunnings and McDonalds and, interstate, Aldi supermarkets and Ikea, already do not give away free plastic shopping bags.
Another major retailer, Target, has banned non-biodegradable plastic shopping bags, and has estimated this has reduced conventional plastic bag use by 100 million bags a year. The conventional bags were replaced by reusable bags and biodegradable bags that meet the (AS4736) standard. The reusable bags sold by Target since their self-imposed ban has raised over $600,000 for the Allanah and Madeleine Foundation charity. If other retailers adopted a similar approach, not only would the environment benefit but also community groups who do so much to create a better Tasmania.
What the ban means
The ban will apply to non-biodegradable plastic shopping bags from January 1 2012. This ban would also apply to LDPE plastic bags that are commonly used by department stores. These bags can be easily replaced by reusable, paper or biodegradable bags.
Bags which will not be banned include ‘barrier’ bags used for fruit and vegetables, compostable bags (which meet the Australian Standard) and paper bags.
Fines will apply to retailers who either sell or give away the banned plastic shopping bags.
Customers cannot be fined if a retailer supplies a banned plastic shopping bag to them.
Following the lead of Coles Bay, South Australia has become Australia’s first “plastic shopping bag free state” and in the first six months of the ban, they estimate that 200 million checkout style bags have been stopped from entering land fill.
It is essential that Tasmania continues to take a lead on practical environmental measures such as plastic shopping bags if we are to maintain our position as Australia’s “natural state”.
We can all make a difference to improve the environment and this is one practical and effective way to do so.
After more than 11 years of Labor…
The Labor Government have failed to act on this issue. In August 2004 a national opinion poll found that 93% of Australians questioned were concerned about the impact that plastic shopping bags had on the environment. Despite strong community concern, the Labor Government have passed the buck and the Environment Minister has sat on her hands, content to maintain her ‘wait and see’ attitude.
In April 2008 the Environment Minister said she was ‘working towards’ phasing out non-biodegradable plastic shopping bags from January 2009. More than a year on, nothing has happened.
Tasmania took the lead on this with a community-based Coles Bay initiative back in 2003. That has become the example internationally with dozens of towns and cities around Australia and overseas following this Tasmanian model. Coles Bay has been plastic shopping bag free now for nearly seven years without any negative impact on retailers businesses or consumers. As Tasmanians we can be proud that we started the ban on plastic shopping bags and a Hodgman Liberal Government will re-establish Tasmania’s world lead on this important environmental issue. It is time for statewide, positive action to finish the job.
