Posted on 03/01/2008 7:38:27 PM PST by Sub-Driver
State to ban plastic bags by 2009
March 02, 2008 01:53pm Article from: AAP
FREE single-use plastic bags will be banned in South Australia by the end of the year, regardless of whether the Federal Government moves on the issue, Premier Mike Rann said today.
"We started the anti-plastic bag fight and we're pushing ahead regardless of whether a nationally consistent approach is agreed to in the meantime," Mr Rann said.
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett said in January he would pursue the issue nationally by the end of this year, either by imposing a levy on bags or banning them completely.
Environment ministers from around the nation will meet in Melbourne in April to discuss a national approach.
The SA Government today said legislation was being drafted to ban the bags from January 1, 2009, and would be introduced to State Parliament next month.
"The time has come to lead by example and I am urging all states to follow this important step in ridding our environment of these bags that contribute to greenhouse gases, clog up landfill, litter our streets and streams as well as kill sea life," Mr Rann said.
"A ban in our state alone could see almost 400 million less plastic bags entering the SA waste and litter streams every year.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Don’t know. Probably not much though.
Are you sure you are in the right place?
Compared to paper grocery bags, plastic grocery bags consume 40 percent less energy, generate 80 percent less solid waste, produce 70 percent fewer atmospheric emissions, and release up to 94 percent fewer waterborne wastes.
The ban is silly, but I would have no problem with a levy on the bags — provided that you get that money back when you return them for recycling. That’s the second most old-fashioned system for conserving resources: Deposit and return. The most old-fashioned is to reuse.
In my kitchen, I have my bag of bags. They’re handy — I can use them as trash bags in the car, or if I want to use them to bring books or CDs to a friend, or I can take them to Sam’s Club, where they don’t bag things for you. Or if I want to send something fragile, I can use them as packing materials. No point sending something useful to the landfill, especially when they don’t really take up any space.
I’m not saying that should be the law, but it’s a good idea and not much effort.
Everything contributes to green house gasses. It’s the latest fad.
You’re just not hip and cool if you don’t find a greenhouse link to anything you’re talking about.
After seeing them by the thousands while crossing the country, I certainly wish that folks wouldn't throw them out everywhere. They are ugly and they aren't going anywere soon. At least paper would have begun to break down.
On the newsprint issue, it is my understanding that the soy-based inks that are being utilized quite a bit here are not toxic, but I could be wrong.
Why they do that? Aluminum can recycling is far more efficient than glass recycling.
glass? the bottles are plastic LOL!!!
Dang! Those little plastic bags have lots of uses like trash can liners and scooping up kitty poop. And that’s just two.
and to answer your question, I don’t no why they did that.
Things aren't static. First, growing pulp lumber has gotten far more efficient. Drive through South Georgia, and you'll see pines treated like any other crop -- this year's trees are harvested and replanted, and the same for other trees on other lots next year.
A bigger change is that paper recycling has become far more efficient and more commonplace. Cheap paper like newsprint is almost all recycled fiber these days. Brown paper bags and brown boxes do away with bleaching and are more environmentally friendly.
Paper recycling comes in two forms -- first, cutting scraps are gathered and fed back into the pulper instead of swept up and thrown out -- second, more and more shipping boxes, paper bags and so on are collected for recycling. Look at the bottom of a recycled paper bag -- you'll usually see a % of recycled content and a separate % of post-consumer waste.
Plastic bags take more energy and water to manufacture, not to mention diverting petroleum from the fuel stream when it's not exactly available in surplus. recycling them is less efficient. And when they do get to the landfill, they don't degrade.
In short, the issue isn't that environmentalists changed their position on a whim -- the parameters have changed. The same way there's now a rift among environmentalists between the folks who still believe that nuclear waste is still the more dire threat, and those who now support nuclear power in the belief that gas emissions are the greater threat.
I believe that conservation is a conservative value -- waste is waste, whether it's taxpayer funds or scarce natural resources. I do not support hysterical, draconian measures with little real scientific basis, but if it costs a few pennies more, takes a few minutes more, to live in a way that is more sustainable in the long term, it's worth doing. While government mandates are clearly overreaching, it's something we ought to be trying.
Coming soon to Maryland, California, Minnesota, etc.
I agree.
Regular thick butcher paper works just fine.
I don’t know if replacing can machines with bottle machines is an environmental question or a consumer preference question. Bottles are resealable; cans aren’t. While a can just sits there and goes flat, tou can put the cap back on the bottle.
When I’m on long road trips, I usually have two opened soda bottles at a time; one is in the cup-holder. When it gets warm, I put it back in the cooler and pull out the cold one. When that one goes warm, I swap again. Can’t do that with cans.
Part of the “problem” is that aluminum recycling has become almost too efficient — used to be, you could pick up a fair piece of change for your old cans. But now most Al is recycled, and it goes for pennies a pound. Most of the money you get for bulk aluminum these days is subsidized, because it’s cheaper for local governments to offer the subsidy than to make space in landfills.
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