Shopping Bag Ban in the ACT

Interesting here in NZ the same thing, great arguments over who gets the money and I read a article that said that you can get bio degradable "plastic type" bags made from corn starch (not sure if this is true) but if it is the cynical side of me says the supermarkets here are charging 10 cents for a plastic bag that costs 1.5 cents, pocketing the rest and pretending to care, surely if they really cared and its true about those bio degradable bags (which cost more) they would be selling them instead of plastic. :confused:

So those who have already been through it find it Ok.

However these green bags will live for ever - no one has touched on the technology that makes the the special plastic bags bio degrade in a few days to a week. To me that is the best solution.

No shopping bags clogging the water ways, no green bags being found by archaeologists in 5000 years time and if they make the new shopping bags last long enough for them to be used for rubbish to go into the next garbage pick up then less high grade plastics being found by those mentioned archaeologists.

Garry

Theshopping bags we have get used for lots of things. They get tossed once they have fallen apart. Guess when it happens here I will have to buy more plastic bags to do the same job.

I guess we are similar to a lot of others. We have the re-usable shopping bags and they are always in the back of the car - it's just a case of remembering to take them out. But we are getting better at remembering!.

Just as a matter of interest, in almost all communities in Arnhem Land, NT - including Gapuwiyak where we go each year - there are no plastic bags supplied at the shop. Large brown paper bags, like we used to use years ago, are supplied to carry groceries.

Bunnings, Aldi and Target don't supply plastic bags here in NSW.

Erich

The re-useable bags are great, IF you remember to take them with you.

A recent survey found that the sales of bin liner bags in SA has increased by something like 60% since SA introduced the bag ban.

Personally, I think the ban is pointless. I now buy plastic bags to line the bin, pick up the doggie droppings etc. Apparently, so does a large amount of the SA population.

Oh, and can someone please tell me how the experts that our governments like to quote, can say that a plastic bag will take thousands of years to break down in landfill, when celluloid was only invented (discovered) around the mid 1800's???

Don't get me wrong, I am not a litterbug, and I will do my bit to look after the environment, however, these "facts" that the governments keep sprouting, are usually like a used nappy.

The 10c deposit scheme thou, has worked a treat. Kids, clubs and even adults now collect their cans, bottles & cartons. I even did the calculations on bringing over a trailer full from my brother-in-law in Melbourne to see if it was worth while. :D

Aldi's system is good enought to me, no bags at all, just fron the trolley to your car.
I found extrange that are trying to ban the plastic bags for shopping but they have heaps of bags for sale on the shelves. What, the ones that you pay are friendly to the enviroment? :angel:

omg stop your whinging!

you see those horrible plastic bags every! and i hate picking them up. even hate it more when you find a dead animal that has needlessly died a very slow death because it has eaten a plastic bag...
and what for? so you can pick up some dog ****?

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Originally Posted by Benz

omg stop your whinging!

you see those horrible plastic bags every! and i hate picking them up. even hate it more when you find a dead animal that has needlessly died a very slow death because it has eaten a plastic bag...
and what for? so you can pick up some dog ****?

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But at least the shopping bags break down in the sun reasonably quickly so saving more animals from dying - in the future it will be high grade plastic that takes a lot longer to break down killing even more animals.

As I indicated above a small change to the composition of the shopping bag allowing it to self destruct in a short period of time after activation of the process by extreme UV at the point of sale would be the best option of the lot - every one would be happy (except the wowsers) and the animals will be OK and landfill will be happy.

Garry

Quote:

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Originally Posted by garrycol

But at least the shopping bags break down in the sun reasonably quickly so saving more animals from dying - in the future it will be high grade plastic that takes a lot longer to break down killing even more animals.

As I indicated above a small change to the composition of the shopping bag allowing it to self destruct in a short period of time after activation of the process by extreme UV at the point of sale would be the best option of the lot - every one would be happy (except the wowsers) and the animals will be OK and landfill will be happy.

Garry

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This is a very valid point.

There are some shops here, mainly take-aways etc, that supply biodegradable plastic bags, free of charge, to their customers. Now, if a small business owner can afford to do this, why cant the major chains?

And, I know from experience, these bags do break down fairly quickly... call it an unintentional, uncontrolled, unwanted experiment... :angel: