Dubbo MP Troy Grant says the NSW government welcomes decisions from two major supermarkets to phase out single use plastic shopping bags across their stores.
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Woolworths and Coles announced a decision to phase-out single-use bags from mid-2017 early this month.
The move has prompted calls from the state opposition, environmental groups and some retailers for the NSW government to ban plastic bags.
When asked if he supported a ban, Mr Grant said: “NSW continues to work with other jurisdictions to investigate options to reduce the impacts of single use plastic bags.”
Meanwhile Netwaste, which has Dubbo Regional Council among its 26 member councils, has commended the supermarkets for taking a step to reduce their waste.
The organisation based in Orange reports that on average plastic bags are used for only 15 minutes and then thrown away but are also the largest contaminant in terms of number in the yellow recycling bins, including at Dubbo.
Plastic bags cannot be recycled through the normal yellow lidded recycling bin as they jam up machinery.
NetWaste has various educational programs to encourage people to reduce their waste and think about waste in a different way, such as the regional Waste to Art.
This year’s theme was soft plastics and plastic bags.
A ball of plastic bags was created to try and represent the volume of plastic bags thrown away and was used during the opening of the Waste to Art and is also now ‘on tour’ as part of educational activities.
“Each year we feature one particular problem waste and this year it is plastic packaging,” Waste to Art environmental learning advisor Sue Clarke said.
“Plastic [is] found in virtually everything these days.
“Just about everything is packaged in it or made from it which makes it one of the most overused items in the world today.
“In just a single generation our overwhelming reliance on plastics has created many environmental problems and sadly future generations are going to have to deal with them.”
Faye Wheeler
I have been a journalist for more than a decade and in that time I have been keeping Daily Liberal readers up to date about issues affecting them and what's happening in their community. Throughout my career I have covered a range of rounds and most recently I have been focusing on the business round.
I have been a journalist for more than a decade and in that time I have been keeping Daily Liberal readers up to date about issues affecting them and what's happening in their community. Throughout my career I have covered a range of rounds and most recently I have been focusing on the business round.
