Just a Few FAQs

We know you've got questions and so we're going to provide you some answers.


Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I say no to plastic bags?

Well, why say yes to them? Sure, they’re convenient and most shopping outlets provide them but there is the power of saying, ‘no, I’d rather use my own bag’. There are also a lot of other repercussions associated with using plastic bags. Let’s go through a few.

Plastic bags look ugly. Whether they’re caught up in the branches of a tree or clogging up a stormwater drain, plastic bags are undoubtedly a form of visual pollution. They’re lightweight so they can easily become airborne and they’re moisture resistant, so they float on waterways.

We’ve been hearing about it for a while now, that plastic bags are bad for the environment. But just exactly how? Starting right at the beginning, oil and gas, both of which are non-renewable resources, are used to make plastic bags. Other toxic chemicals used in the production process cause pollution. They are also very hard to recycle as they can up to 1000 years to biodegrade in landfill sites. Every year, Australians use around 6.9 billion plastic bags and around 50 to 80 million each year end up as litter. Improper disposal can lead to severe waterlogging if they end up blocking drains and gutters in street. In turn, this may lead to sewage and dirty water overflows, which increases the likelihood of water-borne diseases. When plastic bags break down in a marine ecosystem, the small particles soak up a million fold greater concentration of deadly compounds in the water, as opposed to normal seawater. This is because these particles are more attractive to hydrophobic contaminants, like DDE, so they accumulate and become concentrated on plastic debris. This is something we definitely don’t want, because they are extremely toxic when ingested by marine life. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of animals, especially ones that live in bodies of water, die from swallowing plastic bags. It’s a slow and painful death as they die from choking or blockage in the intestines.

And why plastic bags? There’s a lot of potential to help the environment just by saying no to plastic bags. Plastic bags have, for a long time, been free of charge in supermarkets and other retailers, meaning that consumers often take their availability for granted. However, plastic bags aren’t essential to product integrity, that is, it often doesn’t make a difference to the quality or ‘integrity’ of the product whether consumers use them or not. Most often, it’s about functionality, just having the bags available to carry a lot of items or keep your meats and liquids separate from other items. However, this makes plastic bags Australia’s highest-volume ‘add-on’ packaging. Hence, there is potential for it to be replaced with other materials that are more ecologically friendly.

What can I do to reduce my plastic bag usage?

• Use green bags - they're better for the environment in terms of both the production process and lifespan. Green bags are much more durable than plastic bags and can hold heavier weights. They're not bulky which means they can easily be stored in your car, and are also cheap to buy.
• Use other sorts of reusable bags, such as backpacks or those nylon carry bags with funky prints that can fold up really small to pocket size. These have similar benefits to green bags in that they will last a lot longer than plastic bags and can carry heavier weights
• If you're only purchasing a couple of items, use your hands!
• If you don't have any of your own bags on you and need to use plastic bags, ask the person at the supermarket check-out to put as many items as possible into the plastic bags. They can fit more than 2 loaves of bread!
• Bring plastic bags from home and reuse them instead of the ones being offered to you at the supermarket.
• Ask for a compostable bag. These have immediate benefits over and above non-compostable plastic bags in that they can be used to line your bin at home that's used for food scraps, which can then be thrown straight into the compost pile (you can find these bags at many stores including Aldi and Target)
• Carry spare bags (whether they are plastic bags, green bags, cardboard boxes or other carry bags) in your car, satchel or handbag in case of unexpected shopping!
• Encourage your friends and family to say no to plastic bags.

Will low income earners be affected by a plastic bag levy?

The basis of a plastic bag levy is that it gives consumers a choice of either paying for levied bags at checkout or bringing their own reusable bags. Based on this and expected consumer behavioural patterns, low income earners should actually be less affected by a plastic bag levy. According to a paper released by the Department of Environment and Heritage in 2002, low income earners will actually have a greater incentive to use reusable bags when they shop, and so it is expected that the levy impact on low income families will be much less than $1 per week. There have also been suggestions that revenue from the levy can also be used to provide for the group, such as through the provision of free reusable, green bags.


Will there be extra costs for the administration and implementation of the levy?

As with any type of action on this level, there are bound to be extra costs associated with the implementation and ongoing administration of the levy. In a 2002 paper released on the plastic shopping bags, the Department of Environment and Heritage identified that set-up costs will mostly lie in drafting and implementing the Code of Practice at industry level and in bringing about the structural changes to accommodate the levy. Ongoing costs revolving around the administration of the levy will mostly be in auditing and monitoring suppliers and retailers to ensure compliance with the Code, as well as in the collection of the levy revenue. Generally, levy administration costs range between 0.5% and 2.5% of the total collected revenue, but it can be go up as high as 8%. However, the revenue collected can go towards funding some of these costs, especially in areas of education and industrial and governmental administration.

On the other hand, there are also areas where costs may be reduced. A levy may reduce litter collection expenditure by the government since less plastic bags in the litter stream will mean there will be less as litter to be removed. However, since plastic bags only make up about 2% of Australia’s litter stream, the savings in the area are expected to be marginal. Since about 90% of plastic bags end up in landfills, landfill operation and management costs are expected to decrease with the reduction of plastic bags caused by the levy. There will also be reduced purchase costs.


Where will money go that is collected from the levy?

In Ireland, the first country to implement a legislated levy where the total cost is borne by consumers, the money raised from the revenue goes into the Environment Fund where it is then directed towards support of waste management and other environmental initiatives, such as environmental protection or sustainable development. Revenue has also been used to counterbalance costs incurred from the implementation and administration of the levy.

In Australia, it is proposed that the revenue collected from a legislated levy collected by government will likewise enter an Environment Fund where it will then be sectioned off towards offsetting the initial setup costs and the ongoing costs of administration. It may then be used to fund education across all sectors of industry, government and the general public in order to ensure that there is a marked shift in consumer behaviour relating to plastic bag use. Some funds may be used to help low income earners adjust to the mandatory costs of plastic bags by providing free reusable bags. It is also expected that money collected from the levy will also go towards further environment initiatives, aside from waste management and litter control. These may range from a national to international level.


Source:
Plastic Shopping Bags: Analysis of levies & environmental impacts, Department of Environment and Heritage, 2002
Plastic Bags Policy in Ireland & Australia, Scottish Parliament Information Centre, 2005