New Zealanders used approximately 159,000 tonnes of plastic packaging in 2007, slightly less than the weight of the world’s largest passenger ship, Liberty of the Seas or 32,000 elephants. Five percent of the plastic packaging (8,000 tonnes) was shopping bags. While some of these bags are re-used, most people find that they have more than they need.

There is a growing realisation among shoppers that plastic shopping bags contribute to litter, can be a hazard to wildlife and contribute to the waste stream and demand for landfill space. They are light and durable which is very useful, but not so good when you are finished with them. Watch this 44 minute video from Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Doczone to learn more. Video: Battle of the bag

Reusable bags beat both plastic and paper bags on virtually all environmental criteria. There is now a great range of reusable shopping bags that are cheap (or free), fun, smart and versatile. They can carry a message or designer label or be made of recycled, recycleable and/or biodegradeable, materials, and they pop out of many shoppers’ trolleys at the checkout.

As part of the New Zealand Packaging Accord retailers have a target to reduce plastic shopping bag consumption here by 20 percent by June 2009. So far there has been a reduction of over 9 percent between 2004 and 2007.

Try setting yourself the goal of using fewer plastic bags.

You will be familiar with this international recycling symbol. Most of the plastic materials that we use are labelled with a symbol so that we will know how to dispose of them. Supermarket shopping bags are made of HDPE 2 plastic film but are not usually labelled.

The plastics sustainability initiative aims to have all plastic films (numbers 1-6) that are produced in NZ labelled by 2008. However, most plastic shopping bags are imported. According to the Packaging Council, over 50 percent of packaging is imported into New Zealand including 100 percent of supermarket carrier bags. The two leading supermarket companies in New Zealand, Foodstuffs and Progressive Enterprises, are both parties to the Packaging Accord plan. But despite their adoption of the Make a Difference campaign “reduce, re-use, recycle” few of their plastic bags carry a recycling logo.

The 2008 New Zealand national recycling target for plastic packaging material is 23 percent (by weight as a percentage of consumption). By late last year we were 95% of the way to achieving that target. In 2006 about 35,000 tonnes (22%) of plastic was recycled. Making plastics from recycled materials uses only 30% of the energy required to make plastic products from oil and natural gas.

How does this compare with elsewhere? The global leader in the field is Germany where there is a plastic packaging recovery rate of 52 percent. In Australia the recycling rate is similar to New Zealand. However, the use of plastic shopping bags in Australia last year also increased by almost 33 percent according to a report to the Australian Federal Government. Some countries, such as Ireland, recycle far less than New Zealand. Plastic blows away easily and can be unsightly and a hazard to wildlife. It helps to parcel up all your plastic recycling securely before putting it out for collection.

Source:– Packaging New Zealand striving to minimise the adverse environmental effects of packaging

There are different rules for what you can recycle depending on where in the region you live. As more types of plastic are able to be recycled, greater volumes of plastic are being put out for kerbside collection. This increases the cost of collection. The answer is to use less plastic, reuse it where possible and recycle when you have no further use for the items.

There are five different kinds of degradeable plastic: biodegradable, compostable, hydro-biodegradable, photo-degradable and bioerodable. These can be either organically based from renewable resources or synthetic with a petroleum base. To learn more look at the Plastics New Zealand website.

Organic waste at Greater Wellington’s Regional Centre is placed in compostable bags in kitchens throughout the building. These are emptied daily to a wheelie bin in the basement. From here the waste is collected by the Wellington City Council Kai to Compost service and taken away to a large scale composting facility.

What’s wrong with degradable bags?

Collecting and disposing of waste, or sending it for composting or recycling are services provided by City and District Councils. Regional Councils are responsible for authorising discharges of contaminants - such as waste disposal sites - but not in arranging the collection of materials or deciding whether they are to be sent for composting, recycling or sent to a landfill.

Nevertheless, Greater Wellington Environmental Regulation Officers recognise that there is a huge problem with plastic bags, especially in regional waterways. These are places where some people feel they can dump rubbish, a behaviour known as fly tipping. The plastic component of the rubbish moves into the trees and water to create an environmental hazard.

One good news story is of people who use discarded shopping bags for rubbish they have collected from the riverbanks. Hutt River Ranger Thane Walls says he finds them neatly tied and stacked where he can pick them up on his rounds.

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American Chemistry Council, Plastics Learning Centre

NZ waste and recycling statistics

Audio: discussion about the use of plastic bags in Australia

Are you ready? Australia’s plastic bag phase out