Plastic bags are widely used and here in Australia a large amount of single use plastics bags are being used every day by all main grocery stores. These bags are being used in excessive amount as not only do you get one bag for your groceries, but pretty much one bag per item, god forbid that milk or meat is put in the same bag as vegetables although the meat is wrapped in yet again more plastic and most milk cartons are plastic. Being single use plastic bags they are not very strong so the average check out person will also double bag your items to prevent the bag breaking whilst you carry your groceries home. An average weekly buy at the supermarket may provide as many as 20 plastic bags.
Plastic bags take up to 1000 years to break down which is bad enough if people did do the right thing and disposed of them in the correct way as they will fill up landfills for hundreds of years to come. Even worse is that many of these plastic bags never make it to a landfill and enters our waterways were they pose a large threat to wildlife. Marine life is especially vulnerable to this with many animals becoming entangled and mistaking plastic bags for food. There is however a very simple solution to this, use green bags. These are cloth bags that can be reused over and over again, readily break down in landfills and pose less of a threat should it enter our waterways. With such a simple solution it is surprising how many plastic bags are still being used and how readily available they are.
Some countries and certain shops have dealt with this problem for years by charging for plastic bags encouraging people to bring their own bags. South Australia have taken the war on plastic bags one step further and are setting a extraordinary example for the rest of Australia and the rest of the world by introducing a ban on the single use plastic bags. This new legislation comes in to effect in January 2009 with a phase-in period til May 2009 and will see no free single use plastic bags being provided by retailers. Now it is up to the rest of the country to follow suit and us as individuals taking a more responsible approach to our shopping.
