Why you should say Bags Not

OPINION: It’s easy to say yes, Isn’t it? Or just to not say anything at all, as the cashier loads your shopping into a single-use plastic carrier bag.

A separate bag for your meat. Best double bag this bottle, it’s heavy. You’re carrying that large item out of the store? I’ll tie a bag round the handle so people know you’ve paid for it.

But New Zealand has plastic bag problem. A 1.29 billion plastic bags problem, to be precise. So it’s time we all started saying Bags Not.

Today, Stuff is launching a series encouraging you to think twice about using plastic bags.

As Kiwis we’ve always prided ourselves on our clean, green image, and our gumption in getting things done. But do we walk the walk on plastic waste? Some of the plastic bags we use are clogging our seas, killing wildlife, and could even be entering our foodchain. Let’s not sit around any longer and wait for the government or supermarkets to make this change for us. Let’s be that change.

Where do we begin? The first step is admitting you’ve got a problem, they say. You can work out how many bags you are using, and what that means to the everincreasing plastic waste pile the globe is facing, using our calculator. We bet it’s more than you think.

Each of those bags will be in use for an estimated average of 12 minutes. But that’s not the end of their life – and it could take decades for them to disappear altogether.

At Stuff, we’re sticking our hands up to say we’re part of the problem, and we want to change. Fairfax NZ, which owns Stuff and our titles around the country, delivers about 600,000 newspapers and 39,000 magazines per week wrapped in recyclable plastic. We know we contribute to the problem and we’re committed to finding recycling opportunities for all our subscribers.

As part of our Bags Not initiative, we’ve become sponsors of a nationwide recycling programme to give our subscribers improved access to recycling our bags – and we hope to have it available across most of the country within the next two years. Here’s more information on how you can recycle in your area.

Unlike countries like the UK, Ireland and China, New Zealand’s government hasn’t yet passed any laws to cut down on single-use plastic bags.

Instead, it’s been left to our retailers – such as Countdown, New World and most recently Mitre 10 and Z – to step up to the plate and announce plans to phase out the bags by 2018.

That’s great, but it’s not really enough. Even Retail NZ, which represents more than 4000 retailers nationwide, wants the politicians to take some responsibility for the problem. What do you want? Have your say on how NZ’s future plastic use should look here.

With new parties in power, things might change. But until they do, it all comes down to us as consumers. The time for excuses has passed.

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