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

Verified

Added on  2024/07/02

|10
|2673
|67
Report
AI Summary
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.
tabler-icon-diamond-filled.svg

Contribute Materials

Your contribution can guide someone’s learning journey. Share your documents today.
Document Page
Business Law Assessment 2
1
tabler-icon-diamond-filled.svg

Secure Best Marks with AI Grader

Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
Document Page
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
2
Document Page
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

3
Document Page
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

4
tabler-icon-diamond-filled.svg

Secure Best Marks with AI Grader

Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
Document Page
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

5
Document Page
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).

6
Document Page
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.

7
tabler-icon-diamond-filled.svg

Paraphrase This Document

Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser
Document Page
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.

8
Document Page
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]
9
Document Page
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]
10
chevron_up_icon
1 out of 10
circle_padding
hide_on_mobile
zoom_out_icon
logo.png

Your All-in-One AI-Powered Toolkit for Academic Success.

Available 24*7 on WhatsApp / Email

[object Object]