Mayor on anti-plastic bag campaign

BY JUSTIN LATIF

The country’s first plastic bag-free city could be right here if Waitakere mayor Bob Harvey’s latest idea catches on.

Mr Harvey hopes the public will support his moves to get rid of the bags and may consider offering financial help so businesses can get the scheme going.

"We use around 800 million supermarket bags a year in this country and the impact on our natural environment is very evident," he says.

"We will show businesses how to do it through workshops and there could be some sort of subsidy.

"But it’s not just down to one group, it would be a collaborative effort," Mr Harvey says.

Australian environmentalist Matt Cross addressed a group of retailers, including representatives from Foodstuffs, Progressive Enterprises and petrol station chain Gull about the idea last week.

Mr Cross saw all plastic shopping bags banned in his home town of Jervis Bay, New South Wales, and says getting people to cooperate is challenging but not impossible. "This is just a bad habit," he says.

"Twenty years ago no one had plastic bags. People just used paper bags, and cardboard boxes.

Mr Cross says the plastic bags can not be recycled and have no end life.

"One bag which might only get used for a month can kill a 30-tonne whale in a couple of days," he says.

"New Zealand advertises itself as 100 percent pure but it seems crazy for people here not to confront this issue," he says.

Getting rid of the bags has already proved difficult for one west Auckland community.

Last April the Green Bay Ratepayers and Residents Association declared itself plastic bag-free.

But Local Liquor store manager Sam Bhatia says very few of his customers warmed to the idea.

"We offered a paper bag alternative to people," he says.

"But not many people chose it.

"People always want a plastic bag, especially with a cold bottle of wine, which would just fall through a paper bag.

"I don’t think it was very successful and I see other shops have also stopped offering people paper bags," Mr Bhatia says.

- © Fairfax NZ News