The supermarket giants have pledged to stop supplying the single-use bags
July 15, 2017 6 Comments
Thanks everyone for my lovely birthday wishes yesterday.
A nice surprise present was that the major supermarkets have finally agreed to get rid of single-use plastic bags. The tide of community opinion seems to have finally persuaded them and Freo – once again – was at the forefront of bringing about this change. Well done all.
Plastic bags in the firing line as public figures line up to trash inaction in NSW, Victoria and WA
There are growing calls for a national ban on single-use plastic bags, after Coles and Woolworths yesterday announced they would phase out the environmental hazards.
The supermarket giants, as well as New South Wales chain Harris Farm Markets, have pledged to stop supplying the single-use bags to shoppers within 12 months.
Their decision will affect customers in Australia’s two biggest markets — NSW and Victoria — as well as Western Australia.
All other states and territories have already implemented bans, or have plans to do so.
The move, which is expected to cut the number of single-use bags circulating in Australia by about 7 billion annually, has been welcomed by industry heavyweights and environmentalists.
National Retailers Association chief Dominique Lamb said he was preparing members for a total plastic bag ban in light of the supermarkets’ announcements.
“It is not meant to be an impost on small business; in fact it’s often going to be cheaper because they will have different types of bags they can implement and also we’re going to find that we’re going to have a change in culture around plastic bags,” he said.
War on plastic waste
Craig Reucassel presented the ABC TV series War on Waste, which put the spotlight on recycling and sustainability down under.
“One of the hardest things in the War on Waste was trying to find out why the states weren’t bringing this in,” Mr Reucassel said.
“It already existed in some states and it is generally popular in states that have plastic bags bans.
“I was trying to figure out why WA, NSW and Victoria, weren’t doing it.
“It didn’t seem like there wasn’t a push back against it? It was just the lack of political will or desire to do it.”
Woolworths said more durable, re-usable plastic bags would be made available at a cost of 15 cents, along with multi-use hessian bags.
“I think the (Federal) Government still needs to come in,” Mr Reucassel said.
“They (Coles and Woolworths) are not the only organisations that are doing this.
“There are still a lot of other supermarkets or other chains that are still using single-use plastic bags, so you still need the legislation there.”
WA a bag battle ground
If there was a perception NSW and Victoria were dragging their heels on bag bans, WA’s former Government took the cake for tardiness.
In 2013, the City of Fremantle announced plans to outlaw single-use plastic bans in its southern Perth jurisdiction, but the move was twice struck down by the Barnett Government.
Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt said the council was preparing a third attempt at introducing at the local law.
“This time the State Government has said they would not block it,” he said.
“We need to advertise the local law, and that’s happening next week, so we’d expect it to be in place within six months.”We have a new state government which is much more sympathetic to it.”
Mayor Pettitt described the decision by the major supermarket chains as “significant”.
“I think it’s fair to say they’re the biggest single users of plastic bags,” he said.
“When we did our local laws in 2013, the only objections we had were from the major supermarkets.
“You can’t help but think that this would pave the way for a whole ban on single-use bags across the country.”
Tips for living without plastic bags
- Separate your rubbish, learn what you can recycle
- Use composting bins to dispose of wet waste
- Don’t line your bin, simple wash it weekly or as needed
- Raise chooks to feed food scrap too
- Be selective about what you buy – take glass containers and buy food in bulk
- Take plastic or green bags back to the supermarket to recycle
- Try to use biodegradable bags
About Deputy Mayor of Fremantle blog
City of Fremantle Mayor's Blog 
The Productivity Commission in 2006 noted that single use plastic bags comprised 0.2% of landfill and penalising by charging people for plastic bags was an uneconomic and unsound and a weak way of reducing litter.
Stuart
They also admitted 0.8% ended up as litter. Doesn’t sound like much until you work sound like much until you work that is around 40 million per year in our streets and waterways from Australia alone.
cheers, Brad
What about the other 99.2% of litter? Sorry your comment sounds ridiculous, when you ignore the larger problem.
Stuart
Sorry to be clear, I understand the Productivity Commission in 2006 noted that around 0.8% or 40 million single use plastic bags ended up as litter each year.
Brad
Biggest load of codswallop apart from Climate change by man which is the biggest HOAX of all Time.
Ummm …. OK then.