The Green Party says it's time for New Zealand to stop using plastic bags and for the Government to phase them out altogether.
Waste spokesperson Denise Roche says although 80 percent of plastic bags are reused, too many of them end up in the ocean, "causing irreparable damage".
"They're really handy, and they'll keep on being really handy unless we introduce some legislation to say let's not use them at all."
The Greens say New Zealand uses around 1 billion plastic bags a year, the world about 500 billion, which take hundreds of years to break down.
"There is a global movement to stop using plastic bags and we are lagging behind," says Ms Roche.
"If we want to keep our clean, green reputation, we need to join Ireland, Bangladesh and Rwanda, as well as various states in Australia and the US, and phase them out."
In addition to killing tens of thousands of marine animals every year, Ms Roche says as they're made from fossil fuel, plastic bags also contribute to climate change.
"We want the Government to declare plastic bags a priority product under the Waste Minimisation Act 2005 so that we can restrict and ultimately phase out their use."
Ms Roche hosted a public meeting on single-use plastic bags in Auckland last night, and is hoping to get support from the public and retailers for phasing them out.
3 News
source: newshub archive
