Jean Lee Petitions calls for New Zealand Prime Minister and supermarkets to ban plastic bags by 2020

What can we do to obtain reducing the use of plastic bags before 2020? Proposal Brief What can we do to obtain reducing the use of plastic bags before 2020?

Short Term Convenience vs. Long Term Sustainability? Plastic bags were designed to be disposable, single-use items that after short-term convenience would be binned as solid waste. Considered to be the definitive figure of consumerism, it is estimated that between 500 billion and one trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year. Where does this solid waste go? Whilst the bulk of it ends up within landfill, sadly millions of bags are strewn elsewhere.

Long Term Sustainability? To prove useful to the consumer in carrying heavy items, the bags are made from a durable material: plastic. The downside to the composition of plastic, and the chemical bonds which make it so strong, is that the same bonds make it resistant to the natural process of degradation. Bags that end up in landfill are predicted to take up to 1,000 years to decompose, and even then plastic molecules never disappear completely.

CONSUMER RESPONSIBILITY: Refuse: whenever and wherever possible say “no” to plastic bags. Durable and inexpensive re-usable bags are readily available as alternatives, in a variety of materials and sizes. Reduce: reducing overall consumption is another good start. Consider the life-cycle of every plastic bag you use, choosing those that are biodegradable and made from renewable resources where possible. Reuse: reuse each plastic bag as often as possible. Recycle: recycle what you can’t refuse, reduce or reuse, but consider this a last option.

Why is this important? Plastic bags impact our irreplaceable environment here in New Zealand when they are produced, when they are disposed to landfill, and especially when they are littered. Once littered, plastic bags can find their way onto our streets and parks and into our waterways. They are a large portion of the litter in our streams and can take a lifetime to fully break down. Once in the environment, plastic bags are often ingested by animals, clogging their insides which results in sickness or death, a horrible truth that is easily preventable. Other animals or birds become entangled in plastic bags and drown or can’t fly as a result. Our Ministry for the Environment also say that plastic bags exacerbate flood events when they clog pipes and block drains (1). ]

Marine Animal Extinction is the Real Cost of Convenience

What have been done?

Research Questions

Over 14.5 million soft plastic bags recycled Monday, 19 September 2016, 2:03 pm Press Release: The Packaging Forum Over 14.5 million soft plastic bags have been recycled including, 1.2 million bread bags, 600,000 frozen food bags and 600,000 toilet roll bags. Ten months after the first Love NZ soft plastic recycling bins were launched at New World, PAK’nSAVE, Countdown and The Warehouse stores in Auckland, the Packaging Forum reports that 58.5 tonnes of bags and wrappers have been dropped off at participating stores around the country for recycling.

“There is only a small amount of rubbish material, which cannot be recycled, being placed in the soft plastic bins. At 5% this contamination rate is much lower than experienced in other public place recycling bins, showing that shoppers are making a real effort and the message if it is soft plastic and can be scrunched up in a ball it can be recycled is clearly working.

Walking, biking and horse riding tracks Throughout Auckland there a numerous walking, horse riding and mountain bike tracks ready for you to get out and enjoy.

Recycle your shopping bags, wheeled bags and bins weekly?

Some ideas Order the shopping online and deliver door to door Design the wheeled bags, shopping trollies are mechanically fit with the bicycles, motorbikes and car, which the council could have them pick up weekly as a recycle item. Then bring them back to the supermarkets, stores or malls for re-use.

REFERENCE https://www.toko.org.nz/petitions/ban-plastic-bags-in-nz http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/print.html?path=BU1609/S00601/over-145-million-soft-plastic-bags-recycled.htm http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/plastic-bags-short-term-convenience-vs-long-term-sustainability/ http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/en/parksfacilities/walkingtracks/Pages/home.aspx