WWF WELCOMES PROPOSAL TO BAN SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BAGS IN NSW

The World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia today welcomed the introduction of a bill to ban single-use plastic bags in NSW.

The bill, which proposes a statewide ban on retailers supplying single-use plastic bags to their customers, will come before the NSW lower house today.

WWF-Australia’s No Plastics in Nature Policy Manager, Katinka Day said plastic bags are one of the most problematic and avoidable plastics.

“Banning plastic bags is an effective and simple way to reduce the amount of plastic entering our oceans and the places we love. Every other state in Australia has now implemented a ban, and it’s time for NSW to catch up,” said Ms Day.

While major supermarkets, including Coles and Woolworths, stopped providing single-use plastic bags to shoppers last year, Ms Day said millions of bags were still being handed out each year in NSW.

“These plastic bags present a serious threat to marine life, with about 80 million bags becoming litter every year in Australia,” she said.

WWF-Australia released Australia’s first single-use plastics scorecard last week, which showed NSW to be one of the worst performing states in tackling single-use plastics. 

NSW placed second last, just nudging ahead of Victoria because of its container deposit scheme which collected more than two billion bottles and cans in its first 19 months of existence.

“It’s great that NSW has taken action on other problematic single-use plastics, but there’s definitely room for improvement in the plastics policies of Australia’s most populous state,” said Ms Day.

“We need to protect our state’s beautiful beaches and marine animals. To do that, it’s essential that there’s bipartisan support to end single-use plastic bags in NSW.”