Compost or greenwash?

The Government’s proposal for a mandatory phase-out of single-use plastic bags has attracted more than 10,000 submissions and Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage says it is “symbolic of a changed attitude to waste”.

Once a ban is in force, anybody breaking the rules could be fined $100,000.

The proposal triggered a marketing campaign proffering supposedly environmentally friendly compostable and degradable single-use bags, but Sage says the phase-out covers such products “because we don’t have commercial facilities across New Zealand to deal with compostable bags”.

In an inquiry into environmental labelling on plastic packaging, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton cautioned consumers to be wary of claims suggesting that the products will break down into benign end-products. “The reality is much more complex. Whether or not the substances into which plastics break down are benign depends on what they were made from. Some claims may amount to little more than greenwash.”