By
Jonathan Cassell
Cr
Sally Townley’s Notice of Motion last Thursday night proved
overwhelmingly successful as Coffs Harbour
Councillors unanimously supported a NSW Greens push to ban
single-use plastic bags.
Council
will now write to State and Federal Governments urging them to
introduce legislation that will ban single use plastic shopping bags.
Council
will also contact local retailers to encourage them to voluntarily
reduce and ultimately eliminate single use plastic shopping bags from
the Coffs Harbour LGA.
This
fantastic outcome shows that Coffs Harbour Greens is working together
with different tiers of government for positive change in our local
community.
To
build on this achievement, however, community-engaged littler
campaigners must help keep pressure on our State legislators.
Writing
to our local MP
Andrew Fraser and telling him in a few words that you support a
state wide on ban on plastic bags in NSW is something we can all do.
Under the NSW
Greens legislation, lightweight
single-use grocery bags with handles and other lightweight bags used
to carry away products from retailers, such as take away food or
alcohol would be banned.
The following bags would NOT be
included in the ban:
-
Barrier bags – the type dispensed from a roll to hold items such as loose fruit and vegetables
-
Heavier style retail bags – the type usually used by clothing and department stores
-
Sturdy bags designed for multiple use such as ‘green’ bags
-
Biodegradable compostable bags that meet the Australian Standard 4736-2006
-
Paper bags
-
Bin liners for purchase
-
Zip lock storage bags
-
Plastic bags that are an integral part of the packaging (such as bread, frozen foods, ice bags or bait bags).
-
Re-usable plastic bags
According
to NSW Greens, Australians use over 4
billion plastic grocery-style bags each year with
an average use of only 12 minutes and plastic bags have a lifetime of
1000 years.
However,
many plastic products are highly problematic. Plastic drink
containers for example are actually the biggest problem in our
environment making up 50% of total litter volume in New South Wales.
Up to 80 per cent of the litter
found in waterways comes from the land and it can have a significant
and long-lasting impact on our marine life.
To put this in context, it is
estimated that 160 million drink bottles and more than 50
million plastic bags enter our environment every year.
Plastic
bottles and plastic bags eventually break down into microplastics and
evidence of the impact of those microplastics on our natural marine
environment is now overwhelmingly confronting.
The tiny pieces of plastic
attract toxins, are eaten by sea life, make their way into the food
chain and then onto our plates.
You can now help to reduce
plastic usage and be part of the solution. Eco-friendly alternatives
to plastic bags are available including the growing popularity of
Boomerang Bags.
Plastic
pollution is a major waste problem in NSW contributing to landfill
and polluting the states waterways, coastlines and oceans. There
is no such thing as away!
Please write to Andrew
Fraser MP now and tell him you support a ban on single use
plastic bags in NSW.
Thank you!
