From July 1, Queensland and Western Australia will ban single-use, lightweight plastic bags from major retailers, bringing the states into line with the ACT, South Australia and Tasmania.
Victoria is set to follow, having announced plans in October 2017 to phase out most lightweight plastic bags this year, leaving only New South Wales without a proposed ban.
Heavy-duty plastic bags potentially worse for environment?
And heavy-duty plastics may also take longer to break down in the environment, though both will eventually end up as harmful microplastics if they enter the ocean.
Professor Sami Kara from the University of New South Wales said introducing heavy-duty reusable bags is a short-term solution at best.
“I think it’s a better solution but the question is, is it good enough? To me it’s not good enough.
Do lightweight-bag bans reduce the amount of plastic we use?
Concerns that heavy-duty plastic bags are being discarded after a single use prompted ACT Climate Minister Shane Rattenbury to order a review of the scheme in the ACT earlier this year, citing “perverse” environmental outcomes.
Still, Keep Australia Beautiful’s national report for 2016-17 found a drop in plastic bag litter after plastic bag bans came into effect, particularly in Tasmania and the ACT.
But these short-term gains may be wiped out by population growth, meaning we’ll end up with more people consuming more energy-intensive bags in the near future, Dr Kara warned.
“When you look at the population increase predicted by the UN by 2050, we’re talking about 11 billion people in the world,” he said.
“We are talking about 4 billion extra people, and if they all use the heavier plastic bags, they’ll eventually end up in landfill.”
The other issue is that shoppers may become accustomed to buying plastic bags, rather than changing their behaviour long term.
What are the better options?
Dr Kara said reusable bags made from materials like cotton are the only real solution.
“That’s the way we used to do it. I remember my grandmother, she used to make her bags from leftover fabric,” he said.
“Instead of wasting old fabric she’d give it a second life. That’s the mindset we need to be shifting to.”
Post time: Dec-21-2023
