South Australia bans plastic bags

When stores open on Monday, shoppers will either have to carry reusable green bags, or pay up to 25 cents for a biodegradable bag.

Plastic bags on a roll, used for fruit and vegetables, will still be available, as will sturdier plastic bags used in department stores and clothing shops.

"By banning checkout-style plastic bags we'll be cutting waste to landfill, we'll reduce the amount of litter on our streets, in our parks and our waterways," said South Australia's Environment and Conservation Minister Jay Weatherill.

"Producing four billion of these bags across the country each year is an enormous waste of energy and resources and the ban will slash South Australia's share of that waste."

On-the-spot fines

The ban is expected to remove about 400 million plastic bags from South Australia's waste each year.

Retailers who breach the new rules will face on-the-spot fines of $315 or a maximum penalty of $5000. Suppliers who fail to comply could face fines of up to $20,000.

"South Australians know we've only got one planet and that we can't keep acting like we have two or three," Mr Weatherill said.

Major retailers Coles and Woolworths both said they had taken steps in recent months to prepare shoppers for the ban.

"The plastic bag ban will mean a big change to the way some customers shop," Woolworths director of corporate and public affairs Andrew Hall said in a statement.

Call for national ban

"To help reduce confusion, Woolworths has been running an education campaign in-store so that customers could start to get used to shopping with reusable bags."

Environmental group Planet Ark is urging other governments to follow South Australia's example.

The group is launching an online petition to send to a May 22 meeting of all federal and state environment ministers calling on them to "Kill Off Plastic Bags, Not Wildlife".

It is estimated that 100,000 marine creatures die each year from plastic pollution.

"As pioneers of the plastic bag reduction movement, Planet Ark applauds the South Australian government's legislation to crack down on this insidious nuisance," said Planet Ark manager Anne-Marie Byrne.
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