I wonder what's going on with the plastic bag debate. In Australia, many citizens think plastic shopping bags -- which have been cited as a cause of environmental damage to marine life, not to mention littering and just plain unsightly rubbish -- should be phased out of retail businesses. And some businesses are working towards that, with shopping bag levies, or simply not offering them. But Environment Minister Peter Garrett has experienced some level of difficulty in stating plainly exactly why bags can't actually be banned. So I wonder: exactly what's going on? Is there a problem with getting rid of these bags? Is there no alternative? Or is banning them going to cause some kind of commercial/business snag? Take a look at this search engine which lists prominent manufacturers and distributors of plastic shopping bags: and then note the countries of origin. Looks like a trading bloc, no? Is Australia afraid of upsetting someone here?
No comments:
Post a Comment