Ban has swapped one plastic bag

THE

time has come to give up our addiction to plastic bags — all plastic bags. Yes, the big supermarkets and other smaller stores have not issued single-use plastic bags for some years now, and the majority of Tasmanian shoppers have successfully adapted to bringing their own bags to the supermarket.

But banning single use plastic bags is just the tip of the iceberg. The plastic bag issue is bigger than single use bags. The problem now is the hundreds of thousands of thick and heavy plastic bags still being issued by retailers from grocery stores to pharmacies to fashion

Louise Grimmer

boutiques. This has to stop.

There are three important stakeholder groups involved in this issue who can make a real difference — retailers, government and consumers.

Recent reports have highlighted a customer backlash against the single use plastic bag ban initiated by Coles and Woolworths in some mainland states. Consumer meltdowns were derided by some, rather smug, Tasmanians who couldn’t understand the “fuss” that was being made by angry shoppers not able to do without plastic.

However, we shouldn’t perhaps be quite so selfrighteous, we are still pretty addicted to plastic here in Tasmania.

A quick survey of Tasmanian retailers worryingly reveals many are still issuing thick plastic bags. Given the amount of oxygen the media is giving to the issue of reducing plastic, it is perplexing that more retailers are not giving up the plastic for more sustainable options.

Those retailers that have rejected plastic have replaced it with paper, string or cloth bags, boxes or BYO bags. A leading independent grocery chain even offers a bag library where handmade cloth bags are borrowed and returned. Some of these retailers took an early lead on this issue, others have adapted their practices in response to consumer feedback.

Making these types of dayto-day operational changes can be a challenge and of course there is always a cost component, but increasingly consumers will demand that retailers play their part in trying to reduce plastic waste. Those retailers that make the change to alternative types of bags, as well as trying to minimise other types of plastics such as product packaging, will be those that are more sustainable in the long term.

It is well past time for the Tasmanian Government to legislate on this issue. We need to recognise that the original ban on single-use plastic bags has unfortunately actually paved the way for some retailers to replace them with the much more problematic “reusable” thick plastic bags.

Many shoppers admit that they do not reuse these bags for shopping and these bags are certainly not ideal for many other uses such as lining the rubbish bin or picking up dog poo. The Government must therefore step in and work towards banning these thicker bags just as they did with the single-use bags.

Tasmanian consumers have successfully adapted their shopping practices when it comes to supermarket shopping but some of us are still accepting plastic bags when shopping in other retailers. On the whole, we have been really successful in remembering to take our own