- Target:
- Queensland Government
- Region:
- Australia
Australians use over 4 billion plastic shopping bags per year but yet only the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and the Northern Territory have bans on them with fines for breaches of their laws.
A clear majority of people strongly supported the measures in these states. Campbell Newman recently scrapped plans to ban single-use shopping bags in Queensland citing cost of living reasons. The fact is that most people can afford to spend small change on reusable shopping bags when it can make such a big difference.
Single-use non-biodegradable plastic bags also cause injury to animals. Plastic bags look like jellyfish and as many as 30% of turtle deaths in Moreton Bay alone are attributed to them. One crocodile was reported to have 25 plastic bags in its stomach which prevented it from digesting its food and resulted in it dying from starvation.
Just remember that these bags are non-biodegradable when they enter landfill and take up to 1,000 years to breakdown. They are a short-term convenience with long-term impacts and a sign of our throw-away society.
For more information please read the report at:
http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/explore/ResearchPublications/ResearchBriefs/2010/RBR201028.pdf
We, the undersigned, hereby call upon the government of Queensland to enact legislation banning the sale of all single-use non-biodegradable shopping bags from all retail outlets in Queensland in a similar spirit to the state governments of ACT, SA and NT.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Ban Plastic Shopping Bags in Queensland petition to Queensland Government was written by Mark Beaton and is in the category Environment at GoPetition.