Plastic bag ban looms as Victoria acts to match big stores, other states

Single-use plastic bags will be banned in all shops and supermarkets across Victoria from November this year to stop millions of them flowing into the streets and natural environment.

The ban will extend to all lightweight, single-use bags including those made from degradable, biodegradable and compostable plastics.

But plastic bin liners, small clear plastic bags used for fresh fruit and vegetables and animal waste bags will still be allowed.

Legislation will be introduced in the Victorian Parliament on Wednesday banning supermarkets, clothing stores, fast food outlets and service stations from distributing the bags.

Read the story from The Age by Benjamin Preiss and Michael Flower - “Plastic bag ban looms as Victoria acts to match big stores, other states.”

At the root of the problem: the best books about deforestation

Iceland’s Christmas advert about palm oil’s links with deforestation was banned last week, because it was said that the short Greenpeace-made animation was “political”. But how else to convey the devastation caused by the conversion of rainforest to plantations to provide cheap vegetable oil?

 An orangutan seen through a haze caused
by forest clearing in Borneo, Indonesia.

Veteran US entomologist EO Wilson, a world authority on biodiversity, offers the planetary view. Destroying rainforest for economic gain, he says, is like “burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal”. In his 2002 book The Future of Life, he asserts that the loss of forest over the last 50 years has been one of the most profound environmental changes in the history of Earth: “The forests are the abattoirs of extinction, shattered into fragments that are then being severed, adulterated or erased one by one. The last frontiers of the world are effectively gone, an Armageddon is approaching.”

Read the story from The Guardian by John Vidal - “At the root of the problem: the best books about deforestation.”

Darwin City Council outlaws single use plastic, helium balloons from January 2019

All single-use plastic will be banned at Darwin City Council events and from market stalls on council land from January 1 next year — which could see more than 1,000 disposable coffee cups saved from landfill each market day.

Volunteers recorded nearly 1,000 straws among
the waste, after a weekend Darwin market.

The ban, which would extend to helium balloons on council land, was decided at a Darwin City Council meeting last night.

It came as supermarket chain Coles today backed down from a planned plastic bag ban in other states, instead opting to hand out free thicker reusable plastic bags indefinitely.

Alderman Emma Young said a plan providing more detail about the transition would be finalised before the end of the year.

Read the ABC News story  - “Darwin City Council outlaws single use plastic, helium balloons from January 2019.”

Greens call for ban on plastic straws, single-use bags

All single-use plastic shopping bags and straws would be banned under a new and ambitious Greens push to curb Victoria’s growing rubbish problem.

Rubbish collected in a trawl from Melbourne's Yarra River.

The Andrews government has moved to ban some plastic bags from next year but the Greens want much stronger prohibitions, calling for a phase-out of many items that Victorians use every day.

Read the story by Benjamin Preiss from The Age - “Greens call for ban on plastic straws, single-use bags.”

‘We'll be left behind': Greens want 2030 ban on fossil-fuel car sales

All sales of new petrol and diesel-powered cars would be banned by 2030 to spur the take-up of electric vehicles, according to a Greens policy aimed at winning over voters in this weekend's byelection in the Melbourne electorate of Batman.

The road ahead will be one for electric vehicles if the Greens policy gains traction.

Such a goal would bring Australia into line with nations such as India and the Netherlands - which have targets of phasing out sales of new cars powered by combustion engines by 2030 - and slice deeply into a net import fuel bill now running at about $16 billion a year, the Electric Vehicle Council said.

Read Peter Hannam’s story from The Age - “‘We'll be left behind': Greens want 2030 ban on fossil-fuel car sales.”

Final straw? Darebin bans balloons, other plastics from council parks

Balloons, water bottles and other plastics, including bags, straws and cups, are to be banned from public land in part of Melbourne’s north in a bid to reduce pollution.

There'll be no balloons at your next park party.

Darebin Council, which includes Northcote, Thornbury and Preston, has voted unanimously to prohibit single-use plastics from being used or sold on council land.

“They are polluting our parks and waterways, including our many creeks,” Greens councillor Trent McCarthy said.

The ban includes the use of balloons at parties, festivals, workshops and markets and during election campaigns on all council property, including public parks. 

Read the story by Chloe Booker in The Age - “Final straw? Darebin bans balloons, other plastics from council parks.”

Lightweight plastic bags to be banned in Victoria

Single-use lightweight plastic bags will soon be banned across Victoria.

Premier Daniel Andrews has committed
to banning lightweight plastic bags.

The Andrews government has committed to outlawing plastic bags following the lead of supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths who announced their own bans earlier this year. 

The latest announcement comes after intense lobbying from environment groups who had been pressuring the Andrews government to adopt similar bans already introduced by other states.

The bans mean consumers will most likely need to bring their own shopping bags or buy other bags from retailers.

Read the story by Benjamin Preiss in today’s Melbourne Age - “Lightweight plastic bags to be banned in Victoria.”