Australia to end plastic bags in supermarkets

[cal04]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SYD41366.htm

Australia has followed China in announcing it plans to end plastic bag use in supermarkets, with its new environment minister saying on Thursday he wants a phase-out to start by the end of 2008.

"There are some 4 billion of these plastic bags floating around the place, getting into landfill, ending up affecting our wildlife, and showing up on our beaches while we are on holidays," Environment Minister Peter Garrett said on Thursday.

"I think most Australians would like to see them rid. We think it's absolutely critical that we get cracking on it," Garrett, once president of the Australian Conservation Foundation, told local media.

"We'd like to see a phase-out implemented by 2008," he said.

[Historic NY]

1. Not a bad idea we only have one place near us with paper....

I took about 400 plastic ones to the supermart they have a recycle station. I filled it to the top. They offer to take a dollar off your order if you reused your old ones too. I use the ones I have now for my waste paper baskets it save on having to use large ones each week which are half empty.

[Der Blaue Engel]

2. San Francisco no longer has plastic bags at grocery stores

I approve of it, but it's actually fairly annoying because my house is quickly filling up with paper bags. (I'd like to get some reusable cloth bags, but I need something small and malleable so I can carry it with me, not the big, chunky things they sell at the store.)

The other problem is that I used to use the plastic ones for emptying kitty litter. Now I have to buy plastic bags, because you can't put litter in a paper bag unless you're taking it straight out to the trash, which I can't do from my apartment. If anyone has any clever ideas about how to solve this problem, I'd love to hear them. I'm thinking maybe I can find some biodegradable bags somewhere. I've seen them for picking up after dogs, but I need something bigger and stronger than that.

[mike_c]

3. I've seen large swaths of otherwise pristine desert fluttering with plastic sacks...

...in Mexico, downwind from towns and garbage dumps, and I'll bet the situation is the same in many parts of the world. I hate them with a passion.