Tasmania bags bags

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 12 November 2010 10:29

Science - Climate

Although Mr McGuire recommended 'plastics' to Benjamin in 'The Graduate', ye olde plastic bags are being bagged, done, dusted and dismissed from Tasmania's retail stores, although the ban is yet to go through Tasmania's parliament.

Tasmania has 'baggsed' the moral high ground of bagging plastic bags into a ginormous plastic bag to eventually eject them from Australia's Apple Isle and its literal map of Tassie.

According to Australian Food News, Tasmania's Minister for the Environment, Parks and Heritage, David O'Byrne said that: 'The Government is committed to reducing the impact of lightweight plastic bags on the environment, addressing littering and to increasing resource recovery and recycling. We have listened to the community's concerns over these issues and they are telling us they want to see action.'

The article also quotes both Ben Kearney and John Dee, Founding Directors of the Do Something! organisation. The organisation is clearly named for 'action', even though sometimes the best action is no action.

However the 'Do Something!' people are action people who already worked hard to see a ban on plastic bags implemented in the Tasmanian city of Coles Bay, with Mr Kearney stating that he was 'pleased to hear the Minister's commitment to moving forward on this important issue and particularly pleased to see tripartisan support for a ban.'

Mr Kearney's co-founding colleague stated that: 'This move will enable Tasmania to resume its global leadership on this issue and it will significantly benefit our environment. The Coles Bay ban reduced plastic bag use by 1.8 million bags. When this statewide ban is introduced, it will result in significantly more plastic bags being removed from circulation'.

Although plastic bags are easily re-usable and can be stored in empty tissue boxes to serve as plastic bag dispensers, the sad reality is that most consumers do not dispose of plastic bags properly, and thus they become hazardous pollutants in streams, rivers, oceans, landfill and elsewhere.

 

Continued on page two, please read on!