Join the fight against plastic bags

Why are we still using plastic bags?

The question comes up all the time: standing in queues at supermarkets, in general conversation, at networking meetings.

They cause huge damage to the environment with millions of seabirds and marine mammals dying ever year from ingestion and entanglement in plastics. A trip down to our local beaches after a busy weekend tells the story.

The bins overflow with bags that will eventually blow out to sea.

It is something that has piqued the interest of many of our readers, and to find out more about what exactly is going on, I spoke to environmental campaigners – Hayley McLellan from Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town who has started up a Rethink The Bag campaign in the Cape, KZN’s Kerry Dell, the presenter of Earth Beat TV show and our own Eco Warrior, Lyn Marsh to get their opinion and feedback.

South Africans habitually use about eight billion plastic shopping bags annually!

With a scientifically determined working lifespan of approximately 20 minutes, plastic shopping bags are a poor, unsustainable choice considering they are capable of lasting up to 1000 years in an anaerobic landfill situation.

A success story in Africa, with regards to the banning of the bag, comes from Rwanda which banned plastic shopping bags in 2008.

They have been successful to this day and Kigali even won the UN cleanest African city in Africa award, partially due to this ruling.

The positive benefit of this is plainly reflected in the deep sense of pride Rwandans have for their land today.

The introduction of the plastic bag levy in 2004 by Buyisa e Bag never achieved its objectives which were to: provide employment, increase environmental awareness and educate our nation whilst effectively cleaning up the countryside.

Figures show that in the decade of 2004-2014, R1.2 billion was collected via this levy and yet only R200 million was actually spent on environmental issues.

Incidentally, due to its complete non-performance Buyisa e Bag was disbanded by government in 2011.

Consumers have unconsciously continued to pay for plastic shopping bags which include the 6c levy which simply pours into a big black hole.

So, a lucrative pot of money continues to be abused.

Where is all the money going? This exact issue is currently being investigated by Tim Brauteseth MP Shadow Deputy Minister Standing Committee for Public Accounts (SCOPA) and has officially been tabled for parliamentary debate.

MP Brauteseth has committed his full support to this campaign. The Western Cape SPAR group is planning to roll-out a plastic bag reduction campaign to all of their stores in the coming months.

This is directly due to the relationship between this retail giant and Hayley’s Rethink the Bag campaign.

Progressive meetings with Woolworths and Pick ‘n Pay sustainability teams have also shown promise in that the large market share retailers are sincerely beginning to take notice of this movement and everything it represents.

From this insight you can deduce that it is not the retailers that are largely profiting from the eight billion plastic shopping bag sales per annum.

It seems to be government and plastic bag manufacturers that are truly cashing in!

From a marketing slant, the first major retail chain to fully embrace the move to ban plastic shopping bags may benefit enormously from a conservational approval perspective within the South African and international society.

Lyn Marsh has gone out on a limb and has offered to collect used bags from supermarkets.

All they have to do is set up a collection box in or outside the store and Lyn will pop round once or twice a week to collect your used bags.

Addressing the enormity of plastic pollution is an overwhelming topic, yet every single person can make a difference – say no to plastic shopping bags and yes to reusable shopping bags.

Go a step further and support the ban of plastic bags in South Africa by signing an online petition at causes.com