The first anniversary of Australia's plastic ban, criticized for doing more harm than good

Woolworths supermarket in Australia

Recently, Australia's two leading supermarkets Coles and Woolworths said that since the ban on single-use plastic bags in July last year, about 7 billion single-use plastic bags have been reduced in a ye.

According to the United Nations report in June 2018, less than 9% of the 9 billion tons of plastics manufactured in the world are recycled; statistics from the United Nations Environment Programme show that about 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used globally every ye.

When it comes to banning plastics, Australia has been at the forefro.

The Victorian government of Australia introduced the plastic ban bill into parliament for discussion on June 2 From November 2019, Victoria may ban the use of lightweight disposable plastic shopping ba.

At present, not all of Australia follows this poli.

Supermarket bans plastics and backfires annoys environmental groups

In June and July 2018, two major supermarkets, Woolworths and Coles, announced that they would no longer use single-use plastic ba.

From 1 July that year, all Coles stores in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia will no longer provide customers with single-use plastic bags, consumers can use their own plastic bags or Pay 15 cents for a reusable plastic b.

After the then-free period expired, Coles began charging for the ba.

In fact, the real reason Coles backtracked was the extreme behavior of customers at the supermark.

The incident is just the tip of the iceberg in a series of clashes between supermarket clerks and customers over plastic bans, which are not uncommon across Austral.

The erratic nature of Coles supermarkets has left the Australian Waste Management Association displeased, and criticised the supermarket's back-and-forth as dangero.

Environmental groups believe that reusable plastic bags are a more serious threat to the environment than single-use plastic ba.

Supermarket ban on plastic is effective

Since the two major supermarkets in Australia stopped providing plastic bags for free in the summer of 2018, the effect of reducing plastics has been quite outstandi.

However, both supporters and opponents of a ban on single-use plastic bags say they both see supermarkets as the real beneficiaries of the new policy, as they can now start "selling" thicker plastic ba.

        Some consumers say that the "disposable" of "disposable plastic bags" is simply wrong, "they can be used more than once" "These plastic bags will be left at home, placed under the sink, e.

        There are also consumers who think: "Supermarket chains have stopped offering free single-use plastic bags 'a bit like a scam', because now these supermarkets can make money by selling thicker plastic bags and garbage bags to customers, and finally we are from Col.

        There are even more doubts that the initiative of supermarkets to introduce charging plastic bags is not only for environmental protection, but also for prof.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the move to no longer provide single-use plastic bags alone will save Coles $170 million a year, while customers buying environmentally friendly shopping bags will bring in more than $70 million a year in reven.

        Faced with doubts from the outside world, Woolworths and Coles supermarkets complained that they did not make money by selling thicker plastic ba.

A spokesman for Woolworths said customers' money was only "reflecting supply and associated operating cost.

In addition, Woolworths supermarket also launched a reusable bag with an asking price of 99 cen.

The main feature is that if it is broken, it can be replaced for free, and any income from the reusable bag will be donated to the Australian Land Care Youth Progr.

        The Australian Broadcasting Corporation commented that simply charging for plastic bags without investing money into environmental improvement projects will not fundamentally solve environmental proble.

Over time, governments and retailers neglect to manage education, and consumers will gradually return to bad habits and reuse single-use plastic ba.

The plastic ban is just the beginni.

Australian retail companies should donate the profits from the sale of environmentally friendly shopping bags to communities and environmental protection organizatio.

The government also needs to increase funding for environmental protection educati.

Only through a multi-pronged approach can the abuse of plastic bags be effectively controll.

probl.

        In response, Deakin University waste disposal expert Thornton said the plastic bag ban would not be successful in reducing plastic waste unless it was supported by a strong public education campai.

Thornton said the purpose of the ban is to encourage people to change their behaviour and use less plastic bags instead of switching to thicker garbage bags, department store shopping bags, and reusable plastic bags sold in supermarkets to replace free single-use plastic b.

"Plastic shopping bags make up a very small percentage of plastic waste that goes into landfil.

Banning plastic bags doesn't necessarily have the best environmental outcomes," Thornton sa.

        Experts point out Australia's plastic ban does more harm than good

        South Australia was the first state in Australia to ban plastic bags, with the ban on the road as early as 2009, followed by the Northern Territory, the Capital Territory in 2011 and Tasmania in 201 Plastic bag bans in Queensland and Western Australia came into effect on 1 July 201

        Bans have had mixed succe.

Environmental group Beautiful Australia believes the Northern Territory's plastic curbs are a failure, as plastic bag pollution has increased for five years in a row, according to their surv.

        A 2012 South Australian survey found that while single-use plastic bag waste had fallen by 45 per cent, the proportion of households buying waste bags had risen from 15 per cent to 80 per ce.

"One of the overall goals of the ban is to make consumers behave more environmentally, and future research should look into how to change the use of household waste ba.

"

        The Australian Capital Territory called for an investigation into the use of reusable plastic bags in March 2018, following reports that the ban on single-use plastic bags less than 35 microns Habits remain the same, just pay for thicker reusable plastic bags and throw them away after use to circumvent the b.

The Australian state government of Tasmania has also noticed an increase in the sales of reusable plastic bags after the ban on the use of single-use plastic bags with a thickness of less than 35 microns in 201 's investigati.

        The Capital Territory implemented the ban in 2011, and a review survey in 2014 found a 36% reduction in the amount of various types of plastic bags in landfil.

But the survey also pointed out that retailers increasing "heavy plastic bags to replace thinner plastic bags" is not the result pursued by the b.

According to the survey report, the increase in reusable plastic bags more than offset the impact of banning single-use plastic ba.

        Capital Territory Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Rite Turnberry has called for a re-examination because he fears retailers are overusing reusable plastic bags that are currently allow.

In a letter to Environment Commissioner Otty, he noted that plastic bag manufacturers had quickly begun supplying bags thicker than 35 microns, and said he was considering expanding the ban on thicker plastic ba.

        The Australian news network reported that University of Sydney economist Taylor studied a similar policy, analysing consumer behavior in the use of plastic bags and recycli.

Stores no longer offer plastic bags, Taylor noted, but consumers still need plastic bags at home for trash or dog po.

"I found out that sales of garbage bags actually started to skyrocket after the plastic ban," she sa.

        According to this study, the number of people buying small plastic bags increased by 12
Consumers often use reusable garbage bags for their trash, but that's problematic because these types of plastic bags are thicker than single-use plastic bags and take longer to break down in landfills, Taylor sa.

Taylor said about 30 percent of the amount of plastic lost because of the ban was returned in thicker garbage ba.

"If we don't take into account the thickness and type of plastic bags people use, we may overestimate the benefits of this poli.

"

        Scholars and experts have also expressed doubts about the effectiveness of this environmental poli.

Thornton, a hazardous substances expert, also pointed out that garbage bags are only used once, and they usually contain more plastic material, and they are heavy, colored and scented, so they all contain chemica.

        Thornton said cotton or reusable bags were sometimes more likely to cause environmental problems than plastic bags, but he had yet to get data from supermarkets or retail stores to tell the tru.