Report on Plastic Bag Ban: Impact, Legislation, and Recommendations

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This report examines the multifaceted issues arising from plastic usage globally and within Australia, highlighting the detrimental effects on the environment, including water, air, and land pollution. It delves into the impact of plastic bans on supermarkets like Woolworths and Coles, considering both the challenges faced by retailers and the potential environmental benefits. The report also reviews worldwide and Australian legislations aimed at curbing plastic abuse, such as the Paris Agreement and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Ultimately, the analysis underscores the urgent need for international cooperation and stricter governmental regulations to mitigate plastic pollution, advocating for the adoption of reusable alternatives and increased public awareness to foster a more sustainable approach to plastic consumption and disposal.

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Table of Contents
Issues faced due to Plastic............................................................................................................... 3
Worldwide...................................................................................................................................3
In Australian................................................................................................................................3
Impact of Plastic Ban.......................................................................................................................4
Impact of Plastic Ban on Supermarkets.......................................................................................4
Impact of Plastic Ban on Environment........................................................................................ 5
Legislations......................................................................................................................................5
Worldwide legislations on plastic abuse......................................................................................5
Australian legislations on plastic abuse....................................................................................... 6
Recommendations............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion....................................................................................................................................... 8
Reference......................................................................................................................................... 9
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Issues faced due to Plastic
There are various problems which are faced due to the utilisation of Plastic Bags all over the
globe including Australia. As the plastic is constituted of hazardous toxic pollutants, it is causing
harm to great degree to the environment which is in the form of water, air, and land pollution.
Worldwide
It has been identified that pollution and issues due to plastic is increasing day by day and is
affecting the air, loaned and water. Moreover, the water bodies are mostly affected by the plastic
and it has been estimated to be around the 19 Billion pounds of plastic ends up in the water
bodies and is expected to be doubled till the year of 2025. The outcome of such plastic is killing
the animals, ruining the coral reefs and destroying the health of the humans as microplastics
enter into the food chain. This results in the creation of more dead zones where nothing can
habitat or live, changing ecosystems and harming biological diversity (Rinkesh, 2015). The main
plastic items found in the ocean or land causing pollution are plastic bags, straws, cans, etc.
Various changes are made by the governments of the nations with the assistance and support of
international organisations like the World Health Organisation. Identification has also been made
that plastic bags handed out by the supermarkets like Woolworths, Coles and so on is also one of
the reasons for this pollution. Discussions have been made by the governments of different
nations to get into an international agreement which aims at reduction of pollution all over the
globe including the plastic pollution. Paris Climate Accords is one of the examples of
international agreements for lessening the pollution and its impact.
In Australian
Australia is also facing the issues of plastic pollutions and it has been stated by various
environmental groups that the Government of Australia is lacking leadership in handling such
issues. As it was mentioned in the G7 summit held in Canada that a huge number of plastic is
dumped into the ocean each year which is estimated to be in Billions of tonnes to be specific
(Armbruster, 2018). From time to time, different plans and schemes are made by the
Government of the nation in order to keep a control on use of plastic and reducing the pollution
caused by it but the Federal Scientific Committee has declared the current plans to be a failure
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and government doesn’t have any National Threat Abatement Plan for handling such issues. As
the part of the plans or strategies, the state government is relying more on supermarkets in
relation to banning the plastic bags, rather than making such law or plans by which such
organisations become bound to ban the use of plastic bags. Furthermore, the Government of New
South Wales has not even planned to ban the utilisation of plastic bags which has outraged
various environmentalists and even after this, the environment minister of New South Wales
stated that the government will be relying on main and chief retailers in the relation of banning
the single-use plastic bags.
Impact of Plastic Ban
Impact of Plastic Ban on Supermarkets
As consumption of plastic is required to be banned, it has an impact on the supermarket's
retailers of Australia i.e. Woolworths and Coles. The Governments of the states in which such
supermarkets are established are dependent on these retailers to stop using the plastic bags or
banning the bags. Banning the plastic impact business of these retailers as fewer consumers visit
the retailers as they don’t have anything to carry the products they got from such markets.
According to these customers, there is a psychological contract between the retailers and
customers with the terms that “customers will buy the products from these organisation and they
will be packed such products for them”. Whereas the use of plastic bags by these supermarkets
gives rise to the wrath of various environmentalist groups as providing free plastic bags affects
the environment, ecosystem and biological diversity (Mortimer and Bennett, 2018). However,
both the supermarket organisations, Woolworths and Coles decided to ban the utilisation of
single-use bags of plastic. Moreover, it was also planned that there are various alternatives
available to be used in place of single-use plastic bags. Woolworths decide to make use of thick
plastic reusable bag for 15 cents or a canvas bags for 99 cents or a chiller bag for $2.49 whereas
Coles decided to make of 15 cents bag, chiller bag for $2.50, plastic mix tote bag for $1, plastic
mix shoulder bag for $2 and a bag of $3 made of vegetable fibre and jute. The main reason of
these strategies was to reduce the use of plastic bags by implementing charges on it and if the
consumer is willing to use plastic bags, then they have to buy it which will improve the revenues
of the organisations (Zhou, 2018). Where Woolworths continued to carry on with the plans
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regarding plastic bags, Coles decided to continue to hand out plastic bags without any charges
and it was stated by Coles that the customers need more time to make the transition for using the
reusable bags. Therefore, it can be clearly noticed that in order to satisfy the customers, plastic
bags will be provided to them until they become accustomed to carrying their own bags. This is
done with the view of maintaining the business of the organisations.
Impact of Plastic Ban on Environment
It is well known that the use of plastic has a hazardous impact on the environment which
includes pollution on land, air, and water. As the constitution of plastic is of toxic pollutants, it
affects the biological diversity and the ecosystem all over the globe. Collective plastic causes
issues for wildlife, human, plants and so on such as it kills the plant life and consumption of such
plastic poses danger to the animals. However, plastic may be considered as a useful material but
it is developed with the toxic compound which causes damages, illness due to its property of
being biodegradable and its durability (Atkin, 2018). As the material is less expensive and
widely available, it used all over the world and in the current times, is being overused. At the
time of disposal, the plastic doesn’t decompose very easily and leads to polluting the air and land
when being burned. It has also been discovered that the pollutants of plastics affect the food
chain from the large being to the smallest organisation i.e. plankton. The consumption of plastic
by the small organism, it gets poisoned and the larger animals are affected by consumption of
such poisoned small organisms. Furthermore, some such animals like fish are consumed by
humans and at last such poison due to plastic reaches to the humans.
It would be significant for the environment to put a ban on the utilisation of plastic as it will
reduce the pollution in the water bodies, air, and land, the food chain will not get affected, there
will be no consumption of the plastics and causing of poison, etc.
Legislations
Worldwide legislations on plastic abuse
Plastic pollution is scattered across oceans, beaches, bays, and estuaries. The very tiny particles
of plastic, often know as microplastics, are so cogent in an aquatic ecosystem that they are
mostly found in table salt and seafood. The organisms in marine ingest and are entangled by
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plastic which results in fatal consequences. Based on certain research, it is suggested that the
pollution by plastic may impact ecosystem services, biodiversity, human health and food
security. In short, pollution by plastic is not just a local problem but a global threat. Therefore,
international collaboration is required for reducing the demand for plastic products and shift to a
sustainable plastic economy (Borrelle, et. al., 2017).
A conference was held in Paris in December 2015 which was a Paris climate Conference in
which 195 countries participated and adopted the universal globally climate deal which is also
legally binding. In this conference, The Paris Agreement was signed which sets out an action
plan applicable globally to avoid any dangerous changes in climate by limiting global warming.
Under this agreement, attention has been given to the pollution caused due to the manufacture
and use of plastic. Therefore, under this agreement, members are required to take measures to
combat plastic pollution which may include banning plastic bags, straws, and such others.
The Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other
Matter (London Convention) is a convention signed in 1972 which addresses the issues such as
dumping of wastes in the sea. A list of materials and wastes is given in Annex 1 of convention
and requires that the materials stated in the list must not be dumped in the sea. It has also been
recognized that the plastic materials cause problems to marine organisms and therefore dumping
of such material is banned (Kennish, 2017).
Australian legislations on plastic abuse
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is an Act of Parliament of
Australia which outlines the framework for the protection of the environment in Australia. The
provisions of this Act include biodiversity and culturally and naturally significant places. Under
the provisions of this Act, any injury or fatality caused to the marine life has been listed as a
threatening process which is a result of ingestion of harmful marine debris. This Act provides a
framework for reviewing the effectiveness of policies and procedures to ensure that no such
harm to marine life is caused and the issues such as marine debris and its impact on marine
organisms are addressed (Australian Government, 2018).
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Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 is a key legislation applicable in Australia
for protection of the environment. This Act is administered by NSW Environment Protection
Authority (EPA) which regulates activities such as air, noise and water pollution, waste and
resource recovery, contaminated land, and such others. Under this Act, limits have been provided
for the manufacture and use of plastics. Further, this Act provides for provisions like container
reconditioning to limit the waste generated from plastics and ensure that the marine life is not
impacted due to use of plastics (NSW Legislation, 2018).
Recommendations
There is an immediate need for reducing the use of plastic bags as it causes pollution in the
environment all over the globe. This is a threat which has to be dealt with by every nation in each
and every corner of the world. There are various recommendations which are made in relation
with lessening the plastic bag’s use and its impact on the environment. First of all, in order to
control the plastic pollution worldwide, then an international agreement must be made by
different nations as it cannot be done only by a single nation the use of plastic. Furthermore, it is
the obligation on the Government of the nation to develop or formulate the laws by which the
use of plastic can be banned in which it must also be stated that making use of bags of plastic
materials will be punishable under the law. In Australia, rather than relying on the supermarket
organisations to make the prohibition of the plastic bags, the Government of Australia must
establish firm and strict norms and laws so that all of such organisations become bound to
comply with such norms (Smith and Hatch, 2018). Moreover, the use of reusable bags must be
encouraged instead of plastic bags which can be folded up to be portable and can be carried
easily. Educating the people about the impact of plastic products will also help in reducing the
plastic pollution.
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Conclusion
From the analysis made above, it is concluded that plastic pollution is an issue which is faced in
different parts of the world. Immediate plans and laws are required to control and regulate the
utilisation and consumption of plastic as it has an impact on the environment which includes the
wildlife, plant life, biological diversity, and ecosystem. Different legislation at the global level as
well within boundaries of Australia has been established to reduce and control the use of plastic
bags. In the end, some recommendations are made in regards with lessening plastic bag’s use all
over the globe including Australia.
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Reference
 Armbruster, S. 2018. Australia accused of dithering on marine plastic pollution. SBS
News. Available at: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australia-accused-of-dithering-on-
marine-plastic-pollution. [Accessed on: 03.09.2018]
 Atkin, E. 2018. The Global Crisis of Plastic Pollution. The New Republic. Available at:
https://newrepublic.com/article/147988/global-crisis-plastic-pollution. [Accessed on:
03.09.2018]
 Australian Government, 2018. Marine debris. [Online]. Department of Environment and
Energy. Available at: http://www.environment.gov.au/marine/marine-pollution/marine-
debris [Accessed on 3 September 2018].
 Borrelle, S.B., Rochman, C.M., Liboiron, M., Bond, A.L., Lusher, A., Bradshaw, H. and
Provencher, J.F., 2017. Opinion: why we need an international agreement on marine
plastic pollution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(38), pp.9994-
9997.
 Kennish, M.J., 2017. Practical handbook of estuarine and marine pollution. CRC press.
 Mortimer, G and Bennett, R. 2018. Why Australian supermarkets’ plastic bag ban
triggered outrage. Independent. Available at:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/australia-plastic-bag-ban-
supermarket-anger-woolworths-coles-a8449056.html. [Accessed on: 03.09.2018]
 NSW Legislation, 2018. Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 No 156.
[Online]. New South Wales Government. Available at:
https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1997/156/sch1 [Accessed on 3 September
2018].
 Rinkesh, 2015. Causes, Effects and Solutions of Plastic Pollution. Conserve Energy
Future. Available at: https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-
of-plastic-pollution.php. [Accessed on: 03.09.2018]
 Smith, A and Hatch, P, 2018. State Government refuses to budge on plastic bags.
Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/state-government-refuses-to-budge-
on-plastic-bags-20180802-p4zv7e.html. [Accessed on: 03.09.2018]
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 Zhou, N., 2018. Coles and Woolworths plastic bag ban and the choices that remain. The
Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/06/coles-
and-woolworths-plastic-bag-ban-and-the-choices-that-remain. [Accessed on: 03.09.2018]
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