Douglas welcomes plastic bag ban at Coles and Woolworths
BAG BAN
THE Douglas Shire is one step closer to being plastic free after supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles both announced they would ban single use plastic bags from their stores nationwide by July next year.
The landmark decision comes as a result of growing public pressure and the announcement that Queensland will become the fifth state or territory to legislate a ban on single use plastic bags.
This is a huge win for the Plastic Free Douglas organisation who are campaigning to reduce the use of disposable plastics in the region.
Plastic Free Douglas volunteer coordinator Louise Orchard said the new law was a step forward and the announcement by the large supermarkets was significant.
“It’s great, we always knew it was coming,” she said.
Douglas Shire councillor Michael Kerr said the Woolworths and Coles declarations was a way of marketing the issue before the plastic bags were outlawed in Queensland.
“It’s about educating the public,” Kerr said.
“I’ve heard people arguing that they have the right to have a plastic bag.
“You’d be surprised how many people still have this mindset… but plastic does not break down, plastic breaks up into minute partials.
“Microscopic particles of plastic flush into the water hitting the river systems, hitting the oceans. The fish are eating it, the animals drink the water, its going through a whole food source and before we know it we are eating plastic.”
Plastics have a devastating effect on the environment with approximately eight million tonnes entering the ocean every year, killing millions of animals.
“You are not going to have fish because they will be made up of plastic,” Orchard said.
This is significant to the north Queensland environment and as the reef is vital to the Port Douglas economy its even more of a reason to go plastic free.
The next initiatives for the Plastic Free Douglas organisation include pushing to reduce plastic straws in the Douglas shire and campaigning to Coles and Woolworths to provide alternatives from using plastic vegetable bags.
You can learn more about the issue by heading to the Clink Theatre tomorrow night to watch the film Plastic Ocean at 7pm, and get involved with the initiative by joining the plastic free July campaign.
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