Plenty of evidence

You recently published an opinion piece by former Act MP Muriel Newman, who argued that phasing out single-use plastic bags is unnecessary and at the same time punitive.

She said there wasn’t enough evidence; while data needs to be improved, we are aware fragments of single-use plastic shopping bags are among the top five items found in coastal litter.

We are increasingly seeing the adverse impacts of plastic pollution both locally and globally.

A survey of New Zealand coastal environments found microplastics in eight out of 10 samples. And around the world, microplastics have been found in common table salt and in both tap and bottled water.

Many marine species directly ingest microplastics, including plankton and invertebrates, fish, birds, turtles and marine mammals. This is reported to contribute to, among other things, a false sense of being full and resulting malnourishment, reproductive complications, and reduced growth rate.

Globally, hundreds of marine animals have been found entangled in plastic bags and other plastic items or with stomachs full of plastics, which in many cases are believed to have caused their deaths. In New Zealand this has included seals, sea birds and turtles.

We could wait for more science or we can act now on plastic bags – and New Zealanders have called on us to act now. Earlier this year 65,000 Kiwis signed a