Environment – Plastic PR

The recent announcement on the purported ‘plastic bag ban’ revealed both sloppy reporting and a missed opportunity. Contrary to how the issue was mostly reported in the media, it’s not a blanket ban on plastic bags, or even single-use plastic bags, and it won’t deal with the problem of plastic proliferation in the absence of recycling markets. Nor will it help the crisis in the oceans where soon there will be more plastic than fish.
It’s entirely appropriate for the Government to target single-use plastics with regulation.

But the recent announcement focusing on checkout bags only is a failure of vision in many ways and does more for political PR than it does for the planet. Many checkout bags are used more than once – for bin liners, carrying stuff and picking up dog poo. In fact, of all the plastic that comes into the home, check-out bags are probably the most useful.

When you consider the mass of plastic packaging that saturates one’s shopping experience – covering everything from fruit and other food to toilet paper – plastic shopping bags are the least of our worries. Most of the plastic our groceries come in is absolutely single use; useful for nothing once it’s dispensed the goods. It’s not even practical for recycling since there is no way of reconstructing it in New Zealand and no market for it internationally.

If managing or banning plastic bags is so pressing (which it is), and a once in a lifetime opportunity, why wouldn’t you make it count and address the bulk of the problem, not just the easy, symbolic target? That is regulate all plastics, not just checkout bags. Given the nature of politics, this may be a rhetorical question. The checkout bag ban is open for consultation, so it’s not a done-and-dusted deal and won’t come into force until at least six months after the decision is made, though there seems to be wide support for it – and that’s fair enough, too. The current proposal, however, considers exemptions for small businesses, which means it’s potentially not really a ban at all.

Most plastic collected from beaches around New Zealand is of unknown origin (unidentifiable fragments); food wrappers and containers; and then plastic bags (of mixed origin). A high proportion of the massive plastic pollution in the ocean is fishing waste – old nets and bait bins. A recent clean up on some of the most remote beaches in the world, on Rakiura (Stewart Island), collected 16 tonnes of rubbish, mainly from fishing vessels.
Submissions on the Government’s proposed ban on plastic shopping bags close on September 14, and you can make a submission online. It’s important that the Government is supported in its proposal. But currently it doesn’t go far enough to make the difference required to address the plastic problem facing us all.

To make a submission on plastic shopping bags, visit mfe.govt.nz/consultation/plasticshoppingbags

Christine Rose
christine.rose25@gmail.com