Last July, Australia’s Victoria state legislation, home to Melbourne, announced legislation to put a levy of 10 cents on every giveaway plastic bag given at supermarkets. The move was seen as a necessary step to curb the ammount of plastic bags going into landfill, and follows the actions of several small towns in Victoria and in other parts of the country.
Australians currently use about 6 billion plastic bags a year, with an average use of about 16 bags per person per week and while huge inroads had been made by supermarkets to decrease the use of plastic bags (the first question that you get asked by a cashier is whether or not you brought your own bag) this legislation has been seen as being the first of similar legislation around the country. Indeed, this move is expected to push other states, such as the country’s most populated state, New South Wales and South Australia, home of Adelaide, where according to recent polls, 9 out of 10 people were in favor of banning them. (image by Kelly B)
+ Strong support for plastic bag ban @ Adelaide Now
+ Giveaway plastic bags banned @ The Australian
+ Clean Up Australia
That is so awesome!!! I remember when I lived in Australia, it cost more to get paper bags for your groceries, so most people stuck with the plastic. I finally bought some “green bags” to take with me every time I went shopping. Good on ya Melbourne! I hope the rest of the big cities follow suit!
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While this is most excellent news, I’m slightly disappointed that with this being the third post in a row about banning plastic bags, Inhabitat missed the opportunity to talk about Victoria jumping on the ‘ban-wagon’… or maybe you have more taste and discernment than the average punster.
reusing plastic bags: Light Vessel – http://designotherwise.com/?page_id=74
Wendy: Victoria didn’t ban them, it only imposed a surcharge. Many, many places already have a surcharge.
i’m so sick of plastic bags. every time i run to a corner store for something the store clerks try to push them on me even though i bring my reusable bags. Aldi’s makes customers pay 10 cents for bags too.
[...] away from excessive plastic bag consumption (banning plastic bags in San Francisco, Hong Kong and Melbourne) we are pleased to see reuesable tote bag make big gains in popularity. We’ve covered eco-chic [...]