How Australia Slashes Plastic Bags
By now we all know the negative effects of plastic bags in the environment and that, from the European Union, they are limiting its use in a forceful way, without detracting from, that from 2022, plastics to use and throw away will be prohibited in the entire European territory.
In the "war" against the material that threatens the oceans there are many initiatives, some with greater depth and others with less, but what we are clear is that its reduction should be a priority knowing that plastic takes about 700 years to decompose (See article on what to deposit according to the types of recycling containers).
This time, we have to go to the other side of the globe to understand how Australia, despite some setbacks along the way, has drastically decreased the consumption of plastic bags.
Three months after two of the largest supermarket chains ban plastic food bags, it is estimated that 1.5 billion plastic bags have been prevented from being used, reported the National Retail Association agency in its article published in TheGuardian.
In general, bans voluntarily introduced by Coles and Woolworths supermarkets (Leading chains in Australia) last summer, resulted in a 80% reduction in the overall use of the single-use product in the country.
The two largest supermarkets in Australia have managed to reduce the use of plastic bags by 80%.
"In fact, some retailers are reporting reduction rates of up to 90 percent"said David Stout of the National Retail Association.
And this week's news … Consum introduces paper bags throughout its supermarket network. Let's see if they are taking note!
Of course, Such a drastic change in Australian consumer habits brought many headaches to the two chains; from consumers "angry" at having to pay and use reusable bags, to the Woolworths chain where its shareholders blamed the drop in sales for the ban on plastic bags or the Coles chain, which even, in a short period of time , he backed away.
But the good news is that most australians have had little trouble adjusting to change. So, thanks to the initiative of two large supermarkets, the habit of Australians has changed to improve the environment.
"We continue to see a lot of small and medium-sized bags being used, especially in the food category, and although I am comforted that large companies have done so voluntarily, I think there still needs to be a national ban."said the director of the National Retail Association.
From the EU Plastic Bag Directive, which recently released a statement warning that the amount of plastic waste in the oceans and seas continues to increase.
The European Union warns that the amount of plastic waste in the oceans and seas continues to increase
Remember, the goal is for European governments to ensure that by the end of 2022 no more than 90 light bags are consumed per person per year. And in 2025 they want to reduce this number to 40 bags.
If we move around the world on a map, we can see that each country has acted in recent years in a very different way.
And really, we should have a global mindset if we are to survive in the era of "throwaway" consumption.
There is a strong business case for transforming the way products are designed, produced, used and recycled in the EU, and the key - in part - is the circular economy and consumer habits.
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