SIMON Corbell has announced great success in his war upon plastic bags.

“The ACT’s plastic shopping bags ban has resulted in a 36% decrease in the amount of plastic bags sent to landfill and is now supported by 65% of Canberra grocery shoppers,” Simon said.

“A review of the ban has justified the ACT government’s 2011 legislation banning the supply of single-use shopping bags made of polyethylene of 35 microns or less thickness.

“Furthermore, 71% said they did not want the ban overturned and 68% said the ban should be implemented nationally.”

“Another interesting finding is that while there was an initial increase in sales of bin liners immediately after the ban, sales have now fallen to pre-ban levels, which indicates people are reusing the thicker plastic bags for rubbish or other alternatives.

Shane Rattenbury has weighed in demanding the bags that remain be compostable.

“We need to improve the legislation to ensure that only fully compostable plastic bags or reusable bags are allowed in the ACT,” said Mr Rattenbury.

“As a result of the current legislation there has been a significant reduction in plastic bag litter across the ACT, but one of the problems is that people have shifted to using thicker plastic bags – both for shopping and for bin liners,” Shane said.

“This thicker plastic remains as pollution for thousands of years. If we only allow compostable bags, they will no longer be problematic for landfill.”

[Image by mytdx 4, attribution licence]