Positives in single use bags
Getting rid of single-use plastic shopping bags a good idea? Not according to research.
Ask Ireland, which imposed a levy on bags only to find more than ever were being used, with only a small cut in the number turning up as litter.
Plastic grocery bags are also an excellent way to protect people from bacteria in the environment, because they are disposable
By contrast, reusable grocery bags can be “a serious threat to public health,” according to Charles Gerba, a University of Arizona microbiologist and co-author of a study on grocery bags. He noted that health risks of reusable bags came “especially from coliform bacteria including E. coli, which were detected in half of the bags sampled.”
Another study by professors at the University of Pennsylvania and George Mason University examined the connection between San Francisco’s plastic bag ban and bacteria-related illnesses. They concluded that “both deaths and ER visits spiked as soon as the ban went into effect.
The worst bags are actually paper bags. Sure, they break down after use but the energy consumption and materials used to produce them are off the scale.
A 2016 report by the NSW Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found a cotton bag had to be used 131 times to equal the environmental impact of an HDPE bag used just once
The research published in the Journal of Science ranked the top 20 polluting countries and found that 192 countries produced 275 million tonnes of plastic and between 4.8 to 12.7 million tonnes of this waste washed into the sea in a single year.
China was the worst culprit, responsible for 1.32 to 3.52 million tonnes, followed by Indonesia and the Philippines. Australia contributed less than 0.01 tonnes to ocean plastic pollution.
A recent study in Britain, where plastic bags are taxed, found re-usable bags needed to be reused up to 173 times before they had a lower environmental impact than ordinary plastic bags.
Phillip Weickhardt, the lead author of a 2006 Productivity Commission inquiry into waste management, said raising fines for littering made more sense. “This is largely religion, deeply felt,” he told The Weekend Australian. “Plastic bags are useful: hygienic, waterproof. They have multiple uses and functions,” he added.
According to a British study, the production of polypropylene bags (green bags) created about 11 times the "global warming potential" of single-use bags.
These facts are irrelevant if like Phillip Weikhardt said the environment is a religion to you. Roger Marks, Drouin
It is clear why VicForests wanted to conceal the contents of the SIA before logging. The SIA states that tourism "is the mainstay of the local economy, with visitors drawn to the area by the forest." It recommended, “The no-harvest option should be fully evaluated."
When the injunction expires, the state-owned VicForests intends to knock down the forest. The Andrews' government will allow this, despite also being informed by five leading Australian bushfire ecologists that the logging of the mature ash forest will actually multiply the town's bushfire risk due to increased flammability of the regrowth. It also knows the threatened Greater Glider lives in that forest.
But the government ignores the scientists, and it ignores a report our taxes paid for, and it ignores the pleas from Noojee residents to save the town. Dan, please explain.
David Clarke, Noojee
The fact that he was unwilling to divulge information about the dog leads me to suspect that he could be destroyed as he was an older dog and very overweight.
This dog is someone’s beloved companion. It could be an older person with no-one else in the world and who is widowed. They could have gone to hospital and left the dog in the care of a friend or relative and the dog dug out to look for his owner.
Such a privacy law protects no one’s privacy except an organisation. Baw Baw Council have not heard the last of this matter. I am now very disinclined to hand in any animals found to a vet, in case they end up at a pound and are destroyed.
I will make other efforts to find the owner in future which will include signs with a photo of the animal put up on posts in the area where I find the animal. Ilana Leeds, Drouin East
He cannot follow a program with advertisements in it, he's lost the plot by the third advert. Where as, he can follow a program or film or play with no ads.
Take time to inform your fellow politicians we need the ABC it's vital to us.
Secondary may be to most: but I find it difficult to accept the Israelis taking more and more Palestinian land and your government moving the embassy to Jerusalem, you may think you've slipped in under the radar, but I shall be bring it up with every one I meet. I don't think it will win you many votes. Thank you again for your stand against the incumbent government last year.
Miriam Snoxall, Jindivick