Single-use plastic shopping bags are to be phased out over the next year, as the Government plans to reduce pollution.
Despite its clean, green reputation, the country has one of the highest per-capita rates of urban waste production in the developed world. About 750 million plastic shopping bags — 154 per person — are used each year. Retailers will now be given a phase-out period of at least six months to stop providing light-weight bags, with fines up to $NZ100,000 ($A89,621) being proposed, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage announced this morning.
Otago Daily Times reports the ban is not without public support. Just this year 65,000 Kiwis, including Jurassic Parkactor Sam Neill, signed a petition calling for the ban on single-use plastic bags, with many of those supporters marching through the streets of Wellington all the way to Parliament,
“We need to be far smarter in the way we manage waste and this is a good start,” Ms Ardern said.
Ardern said it was clear that New Zealanders wanted action to be taken on this problem. The UN said more than 60 countries had introduced bans and levies on single-use plastic items like bags.
“It’s also the biggest single subject schoolchildren write to me about,” she said.
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