<
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/new-zealand-ban-plastic-fruit-vegetable-bags-world-first-carrier-bags-environment-b1091015.html>
"New Zealand is to become the first country to ban thin plastic bags used to
purchase loose fruit and vegetables in supermarkets.
The new ban will also extend to plastic straws and cutlery, as the nation’s
government expands its campaign against single-use plastics, which began in
2019 when it banned plastic carrier bags.
“New Zealand produces too much waste, too much plastic waste,” said New
Zealand’s associate environment minister Rachel Brooking.
Ms Brooking said the 2019 bag ban has already prevented more than one billion
plastic bags from being used in New Zealand, and the new ban on thin bags,
which will come into force on Saturday, will add a further reduction of 150
million bags per year.
The decision was met with concerns the latest ban will not help the environment
much if customers simply switch to using disposable paper bags in order to
collect their fruit and vegetables.
But Ms Brooking says an investigation found “the answer was still yes, it’s
still worth doing this”.
“But we really want to reduce single-use anything packaging,” she added.
“So we want people to be bringing their own bags and supermarkets are selling
reusable produce bags.”
Ms Brooking said the emphasis will be on educating people but officials could
impose penalties on businesses choosing to flaunt the rules."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-malaria-belize-crime-mexico-city-bison-montana/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
