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Waste management
The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts recognises that plastic bag litter is a serious environmental concern, and is currently working with state and territory governments, industry, and the community to undertake a package of actions to reduce the impact of plastic bags on the Australian environment.
Beached Whale
As part of identifying the scope of the problem, in 2002 the Australian Government funded consultants Nolan ITU to analyse the effectiveness of a plastic bag levy and the environmental impacts of plastic shopping bags. The 2002 reports, the Nolan-ITU Plastic Shopping Bags Analysis of Levies and Environmental Impacts and the National Packaging Covenant Council'sPlastic Bag Working Group Report are available online.
A broad range of initiatives were subsequently set by EPHC in 2003, including:
The retailers' ARA Code of Practice for the Management of Plastic Bags: 2003 was accepted by Ministers in October 2003. There are many commitments, including reaching a 25% reduction in plastic bag use by the end of 2004 and a 50% reduction in plastic bag use by 2005. The Code includes a commitment by retailers to report twice a year. Results will be independently audited and reports will be made available to the public.
The ARA is committed to providing regular reports on the progress of signatories toward meeting their Code commitments. These reports can be viewed below.
In addition to reporting under the Code, the Australian Government has funded consultants to provide reports on plastic retail carry bag use in 2004 (Nolan-ITU), Jan-Jun 2005(Nolan-ITU) and full year 2005 (Hyder Consulting).
Dead Bryde's Whale
To help achieve these targets the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts is supporting Clean Up Australia undertake a national plastic bag awareness campaign Bag Yourself a Better Environment. Retailers and the community are being asked to reduce the use of plastic shopping bags, increase plastic bag recycling, and reduce the amount of plastic bag litter. Information on how you can participate in the Bag Yourself a Better Environment campaign can be found on the Clean Up Australia web page: www.cleanup.com.au.
Concurrently, Ministers have also agreed to begin negotiations with retailers with the intention of phasing out lightweight plastic bags by the end of 2008.
Plastic bags are of significant concern in marine and other aquatic environments, as aquatic life can be threatened through entanglement, suffocation, and ingestion. Floating litter can travel considerable distances, with regional and sometimes global consequences. Any program to reduce plastic bag use and eliminate litter must include a mix of approaches. As part of this mix, Environment Protection and Heritage Council Ministers have asked officials to investigate the possibility of strengthening excisting marine garbage debris recording initiatives and whether these can be expanded to cover freshwater environments. These programs generate the data necessary for gaining a better understanding of the nature of marine debris and will help assess the effectiveness of policies to reduce plastic bag littering.