The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: philw on May 11, 2009, 07:09:47 AM
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you will love to here this one and have a laugh ::)
this happened the start of this month here where I live I forgot to post it earlier though
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/809116/sa-to-be-plastic-bag-free-from-sunday
Checkout-style plastic bags will disappear from South Australian shops from the close of business on Sunday, with the state the first in the nation to ban them.
All retailers - from large supermarkets to small takeaway food shops - are subject to the ban.
They will offer compostable as well as reusable bags at a cost to consumers instead.
"By banning checkout-style plastic bags we'll be cutting waste to landfill, we'll reduce the amount of litter on our streets, in our parks and our waterways," SA Environment and Conservation Minister Jay Weatherill said in a statement.
"Producing four billion of these bags across the country each year is an enormous waste of energy and resources and the ban will slash South Australia's share of that waste."
The ban is expected to remove about 400 million plastic bags from SA's waste each year.
When stores open on Monday shoppers will either have to carry the reusable so-called "green bags", or pay up to 25cents at major retailers for biodegradable bags.
Plastic bags on a roll, commonly used for fruit and veg and meat, will remain available, along with sturdier department store or clothing shop bags.
"South Australians know we've only got one planet and that we can't keep acting like we have two or three," Mr Weatherill said.
Major retailers Coles and Woolworths both said they had taken steps in recent months to prepare shoppers for the ban.
"The plastic bag ban will mean a big change to the way some customers shop," Woolworths director of corporate and public affairs Andrew Hall said in a statement.
"To help reduce confusion, Woolworths has been running an education campaign in-store so that customers could start to get used to shopping with reusable bags."
This has included plastic-bag-free lanes.
Environmental group Planet Ark is urging other governments to follow South Australia's example.
The group is launching an online petition to send to a May 22 meeting of all federal and state environment ministers calling on them to "Kill Off Plastic Bags, Not Wildlife".
It is estimated that 100,000 marine creatures die each year from plastic pollution.
"As pioneers of the plastic bag reduction movement, Planet Ark applauds the South Australian government's legislation to crack down on this insidious nuisance," Planet Ark general manager Anne-Marie Byrne said in a statement.
Founder of Planet Ark and founder and chair of the Do Something national plastic bag campaign Jon Dee will visit SA on Monday to monitor the first day of the ban.
Mr Dee, along with former Olympian Ron Clarke, launched the original campaign to ban plastic shopping bags in 2002.
The Do Something alliance is campaigning for SA's ban to become national.
SA retailers who breach the ban will face on-the-spot fines of $315 or a maximum penalty of $5000. Suppliers who fail to comply can face fines of up to $20,000.
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It seems a tad heavy handed and over the top for places like convienance stores. On the other hand here in Florida our major grocer has started offering green bags at $1. They're light durable and fold flat. I bought 8 a few months ago, haven't required a grocery store bag since and saved myseld a load of non-biodegradable trash.
FQ13
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I heard of some rumors around this area that convenience stores were going to start charging $0.10 a bag. Nothing has come of that yet, but when I does I'll find out just how much stuff I can carry out without any bags. Yes I'm a cheap bastard. ;)
It does look like it has happened in other parts of this country:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Big-Oil-Fights-Plastic-Bag-Bans&id=1582621
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I heard of some rumors around this area that convenience stores were going to start charging $0.10 a bag. Nothing has come of that yet, but when I does I'll find out just how much stuff I can carry out without any bags. Yes I'm a cheap bastard. ;)
It does look like it has happened in other parts of this country:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Big-Oil-Fights-Plastic-Bag-Bans&id=1582621
Big Oil Fights Bag Ban. This alone says it might be a good idea. Seriously, I too am a cheap bastard and shop at Sams, where there are no bags, so I'm used to carrying my own. The green bags really are easy to stick behind my truck seat (where they live) and it also would let us save money on landfill space, a big expense here in South Florida and other built up places, reduce blowing litter, and down here help the sea turtles who eat them thinking they're jelly fish and die. I'm not saying ban them, but maybe tax the the stores at the rate it costs to landfill them. They will probably start passing the costs on to the consumer which will make the $1 green bags seem like a good idea. I used to shop at a co-op in DC (cheap bastard again, but I was in college) and they charged $.10 per bag. I brought my own. Most people will as well.
FQ13
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What ever happened to plain old brown paper "grocery bags" ?
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What ever happened to plain old brown paper "grocery bags" ?
The tree huggers bitched about the trees coming down to support the brown bag. Now, thirty years of toxic land fill and polution in the lakes and oceans and they bitch about that. I spent the buck a bag for the reusable myself and keep three in the truck and three in the car. They come in quite handy for more than just groceries...
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What ever happened to plain old brown paper "grocery bags" ?
Plastic's cheaper (molded, and no folding or glue required), plus they were seen as more eco-friendly due to taking up less landfill space. This was pre-widespead curbside recyleling, and when oil was cheap, tensions in the mid-east lower and no concern over global warming.
FQ13
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Man, they worked so good as "reusable" bathroom trash can liners,....
Can't have nuthin'. :P
Paper bags cause the deaths of too many trees, although totally compostable and recyclable. Plastic bags last a 1000 years, just like styrofoam, why don't they ban that? Tree huggin',.........bleep,....bleep,....
Nevermind....
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its not funny, they have been trying to pass laws against them here. What the tree huggers don't get it is... they don't cut down forsets to make paper, they have plantations and it does more damage to the envroment to recycle paper then it does to make new paper.
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What will I line garbage cans with or pick up dog shit??????????????????
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If plastic bags are outlawed, only outlaws will have plastic bags. :) And I'll be selling them online. I must have a thousand of them.
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If plastic bags are outlawed, only outlaws will have plastic bags. :) And I'll be selling them online. I must have a thousand of them.
Dude, YOU'RE ON THE WATCH LIST!!! >:(
FQ13
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its not funny, they have been trying to pass laws against them here. What the tree huggers don't get it is... they don't cut down forsets to make paper, they have plantations and it does more damage to the envroment to recycle paper then it does to make new paper.
This is some serious stuff here and unfortunately, they'll probably pass it eventually.
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It seems a tad heavy handed and over the top for places like convienance stores. On the other hand here in Florida our major grocer has started offering green bags at $1. They're light durable and fold flat. I bought 8 a few months ago, haven't required a grocery store bag since and saved myseld a load of non-biodegradable trash.
FQ13
Hippie!
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What will I line garbage cans with or pick up dog shit??????????????????
Throw that crap in the street! ;)
If my grocery store quit using plastic bags and tried to force me to buy "eco-friendly" *beltch* bags I just might have to buy 100 items, not use a bag, refuse their assistance for carry-out help and carry one item out at a time to the car.
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I saw a good report on plastic and it pointed out how much of it ends up in the ocean. It eventually breaks down and this is what worries Scientists. Nobody knows what will happen to ocean life when their molecular meals are plastic.
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.......... On the other hand here in Florida our major grocer has started offering green bags at $1. They're light durable and fold flat. I bought 8 a few months ago, haven't required a grocery store bag since and saved myseld a load of non-biodegradable trash.
FQ13
I was fortunate enough to acquire a number of the reusable bags that Corbon was handing out at SHOT last Jan. They make excellent grocery/gun show bags. Then, of course, there's the "cool" factor.