How plastic bags became the pariah of waste

Friday, 24 November 2017

Kiwis have spent years treating plastic bags like trash - which, in our defence, is exactly what plastic bags are. 

Now we're all jumping on the ban the bag bandwagon. 

It's hard to argue we don't need to do something about plastic waste - there is literally a tonne of the stuff for every person on Earth.

But why have plastic bags become the scapegoat, instead of plastic wrap, straws, coffee cups, single-use cutlery, food containers - or the myriad of other plastics we use?

THE RISE AND FALL OF PLASTIC BAGS

Early designs for plastic bags can be sourced back to the mid-20th century. Carrier bags as we know them were invented by Swedish engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin in 1965 and patented around the world, and we spent the next 30 years merrily shopping away.

Then, in the late 90s, the conversation began to change. In 1997, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – a mass of plastic, chemicals and debris floating in the sea – was discovered, generating international concern about the impact of plastic.

But why worry about bags specifically? After all, according to the Reason Foundation, plastic bags make up less than 1 per cent of visible litter, and just 0.4 per cent of municipal waste.

It may have all started with Bangladesh. The country was first to impose a total ban in 2002, after discovering that plastic bags were partly responsible for severe flooding in the country in 1988 and 1998.

Other countries followed suit with bans - Taiwan in 2003, China and Rwanda in 2008, and several European countries after that.

AND NEW ZEALAND?

Not yet, but earlier this year Greenpeace launched a campaign calling on our government to ban single-use plastic bags in supermarkets.

Retailers like New World, Countdown, Mitre 10 and Z have since announced their own plans to phase out bags in stores, responding to customer demand.

But six years ago, no-one in New Zealand was championing the anti-plastic bag crusade. At least, no-one in government.

In 2009, Foodstuffs had tried a 5 cent plastic bag levy at New World, Pak 'n Save and Four Square stores  - but shoppers were so outraged it only lasted a month before the bags were once again offered for free.

When Denise Roche, former Green Party MP, picked up the waste portfolio in 2011 she was the only waste spokesperson of any parliamentary party. Roche ran a campaign about waste minimisation in her home community, Waiheke Island, between 2002 and 2007 – before she entered politics. 

'Once I became a member of Parliament I really struggled to get waste on the political agenda,' she said. 'During the past nine years, any kind of issues around waste were really put on the backburner.'

AN EASY CHANGE

New Zealand needed a 'gateway drug' issue to get people involved with environmental causes, Roche thought, and with rising international discussion, that issue could be plastic bags. People connected with the problem, she said, because they were everyday items.

'All it really needed was for people to raise awareness. But I've always maintained that while we've managed to change some of the retailers' behaviour, it really does need legislation to be done properly.'

It was easy for everyday Kiwis to make a change around their use of bags, Roche added. 'Some people say, 'What about my bin liner?' and the other one is the dog poo question. But we've only had plastic bags as available as they are now since the 1980s, so for a long time we didn't have them. Use newspaper, clean your bin out.'

Kiwi Hannah Blumhardt and her partner Liam Prince run The Rubbish Trip, a project delivering free talks to businesses, schools and communities on how to reduce rubbish. 

'The reason that plastic bags are becoming the target of so much attention is because they're so unnecessary and so easy to avoid. They're pointless,' she said.

'It has been a problem for decades, it's not a new thing, but it is more visible now. People just need to start reframing their habits and where they shop. 

'[Banning plastic bags] is a good start that will hopefully lead to bigger changes.'

A SENSE OF SHAME

Why do Kiwis care now, when we didn't in 2009, or even in 2015, when Farro Fresh supermarkets tried and failed with a 5 cent plastic bag levy?

Environmental historian Tom Brooking, a professor at the University of Otago, said there were two main reasons: 'One is a generational shift, and absolutely locked in with that is the digital world,' he said. 

'There has been exposure to the fact that so-called developing countries, such as Kenya and Uganda, have basically banned them. We're kind of ashamed.'

Roche agrees: 'There's this growing recognition that disposable plastic is a waste of resources. I think there is a sense of shame.

'Taking your own bags is a social norm in many other countries. I mean, Rwanda has banned plastic bags. If Rwanda can do it, New Zealand can too.'

Kiwis had also wised up to the fact that New Zealand 'could be a hell of a lot cleaner', Brooking said.

'There's far too much garbage and junk, and plastic bags end up in weird and wonderful places, where they shouldn't be. It's spoiling the scenery,' he said.

'The fact that plastic bags are having such a heinous influence on all sorts of iconic animals – particularly dolphins and birds like albatross – and that they're doing so much damage to the marine environment, as well as to the terrestrial one, is really hitting home.'

IS IT UNFAIR?

Maybe a little. Plastic bags have become symbolic of environmental issues, but they are far from the only problem facing our planet.

Plastics New Zealand environment committee chairperson Dennise Chapman said plastics in general got a bad rap. 'We see the plastic bag issue as more of a litter issue,' she said.

Plastic bags reduced energy usage and food waste, Chapman said, and could be reused. 'Plastics have improved our way of life. If I didn't have plastic bags as bin liners I would have to go and buy them.

'I don't think it would be possible to have life without plastic. New Zealand's agricultural economy relies on plastic to export our goods to the world. Without plastics, you'd have to have more live cattle exports.'

But as Roche says, we do have to start somewhere, and perhaps plastic bags will be the pariah which kick-starts the domino effect. 'It's a little step that we could take to actually start to address our horrendous climate emissions.'