Foodstuffs has reported that plastic bag usage had reduced by 50%
By Jamie Melbourne-Hayward
The decision by Foodstuffs to make optional the payment for plastic shopping bags in Wellington supermarkets has been labelled shameful, and there are calls for exploring alternative options. Hutt City Environmental Sustainability advisor Sandy Beathcroft says when you are trying to implement something new there needs to be enough positive education around the change. ?People don?t like change. ?Whenever you are doing something new you have to bring the majority of the people with you,? she says. Bio-degradable plastic bags take a long time to return to a natural state and ?if there was a real desire to end the amount of plastic in the environment then a charge for bags has got to be positive?, says Mrs Beathcroft. Wellington City Councillor Environment Portfolio Leader Celia Wade-Brown urges Wellington supermarkets to re-think their plastic bag ideas and says a month is not long enough for behavioural change to take effect. She says other supermarket operators are free-loaders that have undermined the New World and Four Square initiative by not taking their share of responsibility. ?It?s easy for people to avoid the modest charge - just take a bag or six with you. ?How extraordinary that many people in the Lower North Island choose to travel further to different stores just because they are being asked to take some responsibility for reducing waste,? she says. It?s not ?clean and green? or ?100% Pure? when you see plastic bags in the Taputeranga Marine Reserve or littering beaches, parks and streets, she says. ?I call on Wellington residents to reduce waste by taking their own bags, buying products with minimal packaging, re-using or recycling what they can to reduce the amount of plastic that heads into our ocean,? says Ms Wade-Brown. She wants the Waste Advisory Board to give the Waste Minimisation Act some meaning and reduce packaging waste ? the Waste Minimisation Act enables New Zealanders to set a fair playing field for waste reduction. MP for Wellington Central Grant Robertson says the change ?is the wrong move at the wrong time?. ?They showed real leadership with their decision to charge for plastic shopping bags.?Backing down now sends all the wrong messages about the contribution businesses and consumers can make to protect the environment,? Grant Robertson says. Foodstuffs has reported that plastic bag usage had reduced by 50% or 40 million bags since they brought in the charge.? ?It is working, and it is a real shame that they are abandoning the scheme,? he says. Both the major supermarket chains in New Zealand signed up to the Packaging Accord under the previous government, which committed them to significantly reducing the number of plastic bags they use. ?They need to get creative with their approach.? ?There are lots of ways to encourage more sustainable behaviour by consumers, but giving-in to a small minority of customers is not one of them,? says Grant Robertson.
