Students press Government for plastic bag ban

Wednesday, 28 June 2017

Children from a group of schools across the country gathered outside Parliament on Wednesday to deliver a proposal to ban plastic bags.

A crowd of students gathered outside Parliament on Wednesday morning, demanding the banning of plastic bags.

The students were supporting two pupils from Dunedin's Carisbrook School, who had flown to Wellington to present a petition signed by 3600 people calling for a ban.

Central government has been facing mounting pressure to tackle the issue of single-use soft plastics, including an open letter signed by over half of the country's mayors demanding a mandatory bag levy.

Carisbrook School students Caitlyn Petrie, left, and Imogen Yates-Aitken presenting a 3600-strong petition to Parliament on Wednesday.

Carisbrook students Caitlyn Petrie and Imogen Yates-Aitken, both 12, said the school's envirogroup had launched the petition after they learned about the environmental damage caused by plastic bags.

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'It's so bad for the environment, and it's going to be our future,' Imogen said.

Paremata School students Sebastian Knighton was one of the students chanting: 'We are the future - ban plastic bags'.

Knighton, 7, said his class had been studying the effect of soft plastics on the health of marine animals.

'I'm here to tell the Government to stop making plastic bags, because they are bad for sea life, and the sea life eat them thinking they are jellyfish,' he said.

Students from Kapiti College and Daisies Early Education and Car Centre were also in attendance.

Carisbrook's was not the only petition currently being undertaken by school students in the hope of pressing government into action over plastic bags.

A petition from Wellington's Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, which called for a 10-cent plastic bag levy, has gained more than 9000 signatures.

Associate Environment Minister Scott Simpson has been cagey on the subject so far, saying he preferred to work with the sector to tackle the issue, rather than impose a ban or a levy, which he described as 'heavy-handed legislation'.

To date 39 of New Zealand's 67 regional and city mayors have signed an open letter asking the Government to impose a levy, or step aside and allow local government to take the reins.

MAYORS WHO HAVE SIGNED THE OPEN LETTER:

Neil Holdom, New Plymouth

Wayne Guppy, Upper Hutt

Grant Smith, Palmerston North

Steve Chadwick, Rotorua

Rachel Reese, Nelson

John Carter, Far North

David Ayers, Waimakariri

Sam Broughton, Selwyn

Sheryl Mai, Whangarei

Lyn Patterson, Masterton

Dave Cull, Dunedin

Lawrence Yule, Hastings

Phil Goff, Auckland

Justin Lester, Wellington

Jim Boult, Queenstown

Meng Foon, Gisborne

Alex Walker, Central Hawke's Bay

Helen Worboys, Manawatu

Michael Feyen, Horowhenua

Greg Gent, Kaipara

Andy Watson, Rangitikei

Craig Little, Wairoa

Bryan Cadogan, Clutha

John Booth, Carterton

Lianne Dalziel, Christchurch

Garry Howard, Buller

Ray Wallace, Lower Hutt

Tim Shadbolt, Invercargill

Winton Dalley, Hurunui

K Gurunathan, Kapiti Coast

Hamish McDouall, Wanganui

Malcolm Campbell, Kawerau

John Tregidga, Hauraki

John Forbes, Opotiki

John Leggett, Marlborough

Bruce Smith, Westland

Mike Tana, Porirua

Graham Smith, Mackenzie