Plastic bag ban Plastic Bag Ban is coming
Media release: Plastic bag ban passed by Assembly 7 December 2010
In December 2010, the ACT Legislative Assembly passed legislation to ban lightweight plastic bags in the ACT. The Plastic Shopping Bags Ban Act 2010 can be downloaded from http://www.legislation.act.gov.au
The legislation will come into effect on 1 July 2011 when a four-month transitional period will begin to allow residents and retailers time to adjust to the ban.
The transitional period will last four months and the ban begin on 1 November 2011.
The announcement followed a comprehensive study of community attitudes towards the use of plastic bags in the retail environment carried out in August 2009.
The consultation process sought views from members of the community about how they use plastic bags in and around the home, as well as their opinions on a possible ban or levy. The plastic bags community consultation was undertaken by consultants Manidis Roberts on behalf of the ACT Department of the Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water (DECCEW).
A copy of the report is available here. http://www.environment.act.gov.au/__dat ... Report.pdf
Further information
Useful information for retailers - This is where retailers can find information about the ban and how to prepare for it.
http://www.environment.act.gov.au/waste ... _retailers
Useful information for the community - This is where the community can find information about the ban including which bags they can and cannot use
http://www.environment.act.gov.au/waste ... _community
Which bags will be banned and which are allowed?
http://www.environment.act.gov.au/waste ... re_allowed
Contact us
For further information, please contact us on 13 22 81 or environment@act.gov.au.
Baggered..
Baggered..
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Baggered..
Buggered?
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Baggered..
Same movement is going on here. I prefer paper bags, and I recall having a discussion here about how to better use the bags we all get rather than the store supplying new ones. For me, it is having bags in the car since I don't live walking distance to a store now.
I know in the debate here about the bag ban, there was a fair bit of exaggeration as to how big the problem is. The many mile island of plastic floating in the Pacific is a myth. There are many smaller collections floating at sea, though. I also question how many bags end up in the ocean from countries with good recycling, reuse, and refuse systems. Would a ban in places that already deal with a lot of plastic have much impact on plastics that end up in the ocean? I doubt it, but there may be other good reasons to say no to plastic bags.
I know in the debate here about the bag ban, there was a fair bit of exaggeration as to how big the problem is. The many mile island of plastic floating in the Pacific is a myth. There are many smaller collections floating at sea, though. I also question how many bags end up in the ocean from countries with good recycling, reuse, and refuse systems. Would a ban in places that already deal with a lot of plastic have much impact on plastics that end up in the ocean? I doubt it, but there may be other good reasons to say no to plastic bags.
Re: Baggered..
We've switched to reusable for nearly 100% of grocery shopping.
Not difficult.
yrs,
rubato
Not difficult.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Baggered..
We have too. But I was still getting a couple of plastic bags a week to do as bin liners and poo-picker-uppers.
Bah!


Re: Baggered..
I would welcome such a ban where I live; I'm sick of seeing those plastic bags caught in trees, bushes, and on fencing.
Small plastic bags for lining small trash cans & picking up dog poo are available for purchase where one purchases regular garbage bags - I've been getting them for years and they are cheap & better quality, so less likelihood of leakage.
I see a tiny fraction of folks using the reusable bags at the grocery, which is contemptible, given how easy it is to keep some in one's vehicle and how cheap they are (.99 most places now). I forget to use mine far too often and it's something I'm quite ashamed of.
Small plastic bags for lining small trash cans & picking up dog poo are available for purchase where one purchases regular garbage bags - I've been getting them for years and they are cheap & better quality, so less likelihood of leakage.
I see a tiny fraction of folks using the reusable bags at the grocery, which is contemptible, given how easy it is to keep some in one's vehicle and how cheap they are (.99 most places now). I forget to use mine far too often and it's something I'm quite ashamed of.

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
~ Carl Sagan
Re: Baggered..
I've been carrying my own grocery bags since I lived in DC, so for over 20 years. I keep a stash in the back of the Jeep, and when I walked everywhere, I kept some by the front door. It's pretty simple to get into the habit. I also like to carry a large purse, just so I can decline small bags at other kinds of stores.
In the old days, I'd get strange looks. Now most stores barely have bags for you, which is fine with me. I do occasionally and purposefully get the recycled paper bags from Whole Foods or Trader Joes so I can use them for my paper recycling. The plastic bags make me shiver with horror. I occasionally use a grocery delivery service and they use those bags -- another reason to stop using them!
Now, if we could just get rid of excess packaging . . . .
In the old days, I'd get strange looks. Now most stores barely have bags for you, which is fine with me. I do occasionally and purposefully get the recycled paper bags from Whole Foods or Trader Joes so I can use them for my paper recycling. The plastic bags make me shiver with horror. I occasionally use a grocery delivery service and they use those bags -- another reason to stop using them!
Now, if we could just get rid of excess packaging . . . .
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
Re: Baggered..
I used the "reusable" bags for a while...unfortunately, they pretty much fell apart after less than a year (seams tore, handles broke), often failing abruptly, catastrophically, and occasionally expensively. I had about eight, I think I have one left.bigskygal wrote:I would welcome such a ban where I live; I'm sick of seeing those plastic bags caught in trees, bushes, and on fencing.
Small plastic bags for lining small trash cans & picking up dog poo are available for purchase where one purchases regular garbage bags - I've been getting them for years and they are cheap & better quality, so less likelihood of leakage.
I see a tiny fraction of folks using the reusable bags at the grocery, which is contemptible, given how easy it is to keep some in one's vehicle and how cheap they are (.99 most places now). I forget to use mine far too often and it's something I'm quite ashamed of.
Treat Gaza like Carthage.
Re: Baggered..
i always ride with a backpack, which doubles as a grocery sack. Most stores I frequent, have long ago stopped asking me to check my pack at the door, as I've been deemed a loyal customer and not a 'stuffer'.
Re: Baggered..
I have used canvas bags for years.
The tiny plastic bags I get when I have forgotten to bring one of my canvas bags can be used to line small waste baskets around my abode.
The tiny plastic bags I get when I have forgotten to bring one of my canvas bags can be used to line small waste baskets around my abode.
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Baggered..
When I make a grocery store run, I wind up with at least five or six large filled grocery bags....
I'd need 10 of those canvas numbers to cover it, and I'd have groceries rolling all over the back of my car by the time I got home.
Not happening...
The grocery stores here are now prohibited by fascist regulation from providing plastic bags, but I use the one's I can still get at the Seven-11 and corner stores for small trash can liners, like some others have mentioned.
If the morons on the Board of Stupidvisors decide to extend the plastic bag ban to those stores as well, I'll then go back to buying the Glad plastic bags, and so the result of their idiocy will be that rather than plastic bags being used twice, (once to carry store items, a second time as a trash can liner) they will be used only once and then thrown away.
These are the same rocket surgeons who's restrictive policies on where tobacco products can be sold has given a big boost to the online stores and screwed themselves out of tax revenue.
In their rush to embrace faux PC self-righteousness, these preening nincompoops consistently miss the unintended (but totally foreseeable) consequences of their actions.
I'd need 10 of those canvas numbers to cover it, and I'd have groceries rolling all over the back of my car by the time I got home.
Not happening...
The grocery stores here are now prohibited by fascist regulation from providing plastic bags, but I use the one's I can still get at the Seven-11 and corner stores for small trash can liners, like some others have mentioned.
If the morons on the Board of Stupidvisors decide to extend the plastic bag ban to those stores as well, I'll then go back to buying the Glad plastic bags, and so the result of their idiocy will be that rather than plastic bags being used twice, (once to carry store items, a second time as a trash can liner) they will be used only once and then thrown away.
These are the same rocket surgeons who's restrictive policies on where tobacco products can be sold has given a big boost to the online stores and screwed themselves out of tax revenue.
In their rush to embrace faux PC self-righteousness, these preening nincompoops consistently miss the unintended (but totally foreseeable) consequences of their actions.



Re: Baggered..
When I was a young'n, we put trash directly into the various small trash cans around the house (bath, bedrooms, etc.) and when they filled they were dumped into the kitchen garbage. So only one plastic bag was used to collect/discard household garbage. My mother would periodically wash out those small garbage pails if something sticky had been tossed which mucked up the inside.
I'm going to start following that practice, and also start using my reusable bags for shopping. One small step toward improving the environment.
I'm going to start following that practice, and also start using my reusable bags for shopping. One small step toward improving the environment.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
~ Carl Sagan
Re: Baggered..
I like plastic bags. One thing I like is that I can carry 4 or 5 with one hand.
In my city they aren't illegal yet, but there's talk about it. What really pisses me off is that stores in some cities say that once the plastic bags are banned they are going to charge you for paper bags if you use them.
In my city they aren't illegal yet, but there's talk about it. What really pisses me off is that stores in some cities say that once the plastic bags are banned they are going to charge you for paper bags if you use them.
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Re: Baggered..
We reuse the plastic bags from the grocery stores for many things, lining garbage pails, dog poop and such (all mentioned here before).
bigskygal says
Now why don't we rail against the ignorant and sloppy bastards who throw these bags around causing the litter in the first place. Seems a $1000 fine for anyone not properly disposing of a plastic bag should be in order rather than getting rid of them al together. Who is sponsoring this bill and did anyone check if he/she has ties to the manufacturer/importer of the supposed "reusable" bags that we have to buy at $1+ a piece to replace the plastic bags?
And I am for keeping this planet clean and recycling and such. Seems we could go back to paper, which is also availabe where we shop and also use twice, once for the groceries and a second to put the newspapers in for recycling every other Wednesday (glass, metal and plastic is on the other Wednesdays).
bigskygal says
Free is better than paying, even if you have to use two to prevent leakage.Small plastic bags for lining small trash cans & picking up dog poo are available for purchase where one purchases regular garbage bags - I've been getting them for years and they are cheap & better quality, so less likelihood of leakage.
Now why don't we rail against the ignorant and sloppy bastards who throw these bags around causing the litter in the first place. Seems a $1000 fine for anyone not properly disposing of a plastic bag should be in order rather than getting rid of them al together. Who is sponsoring this bill and did anyone check if he/she has ties to the manufacturer/importer of the supposed "reusable" bags that we have to buy at $1+ a piece to replace the plastic bags?
And I am for keeping this planet clean and recycling and such. Seems we could go back to paper, which is also availabe where we shop and also use twice, once for the groceries and a second to put the newspapers in for recycling every other Wednesday (glass, metal and plastic is on the other Wednesdays).