Plastic shopping bag ban !

The Australian Capital Territory has decided to ban plastic shopping bags in Canberra shops and this ban will come into effect on the first of November.   It will only apply to the type of bags normally used to bag groceries and similar purchases - and will not apply to those bags presented in roll form - used to contain items like loose vegetables, nuts, and fruit.

The battle to rid the nation of plastic bags that clog landfills, blow about city streets and are blamed for the death of many sea creatures which ingest them in mistake for food has had a long and checkered history.
Years ago German owned supermarket - Aldi - stopped supplying free packaging and customers quickly adapted.  This supermarket chain has expanded and is still growing, proving that a bag ban is possible if applied with determination.

It is also interesting to review the fate of those green reuseable fabric bags that dominated the grocery scene about a decade ago.   It seemed that at least half the population were shamed into buying and using these bags to lug their groceries home - but that was a fad that slowly passed - and now represents only a tiny core of shoppers.

What happens in Canberra will be an interesting test of resolve.   We will probably see a sharp increase in the number of supermarket trolleys abandoned in city streets and parks.  People who would normally carry their groceries away in plastic bags will be more likely to wheel them loose in their trolley to get to wherever their car is parked - load them into the boot - and then dump the trolley rather than return it to the store.

Compliance will also depend on how this ban is enforced.   Unless there is a heavy fine for giving a plastic bag to a customer there will be some traders who simply ignore it - and others may get around the ban by providing a more expensive plastic bag of heavier microns on the basis that this is a " reuseable " unit.

It seems inevitable that once more those green fabric bags will get heavily promoted in the ACT, but what sort of shopping scene evolves a decade from November will be an interesting study that will occupy journalists and university lecturers - and may influence the decisions of politicians in other states.

So far - the plastic bag has survived all forms of attack !