Why we need to ditch the plastic

Date: Tuesday 8th August 2017

By Gabrielle King

Did you know that Australians are the second largest producers of waste in the world? Each of us send over 690 kilograms of waste to landfill each year, and one of the biggest culprits is the plastic bag.

As a collective, we Aussies use 3.92 billion plastic bags each year, dumping over 400, 000 plastic bags in landfill every hour. On Clean Up Australia day, around half a million shopping bags are collected during the rubbish pickup.

These numbers are a cause for concern, and some big players in the Australian market are starting to take action. As of June 30 2018, Woolworths and Coles will be phasing out lightweight plastic bags, opting for thicker, reusable bags instead. For Woolworths, this will cover other stores under its ownership as well, such as BWS, Big W, Dan Murphy’s and Cellarmasters.

This is good news for both our environment and our wildlife. As the single use plastic bags float easily in both air and water, they can travel long distances and will often settle in our oceans. This is a major contributor to the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' - the below video offers a great tongue-in-cheek explanation of this "migration".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgh9h2ePYw

Unfortunately, many marine animals and seabirds die as a result of plastic bags landing in the ocean, becoming entangled or ingesting the litter. As the bags can last anywhere from 20-1000 years, once the animal decays, the bag re-enters the ecosystem, and the process is repeated.

Banning the single use bags and opting for reusable bags will do wonders for our country’s environmental impact. At The Market Basket Co, we have committed to this movement by only using recyclable and biodegradable packaging for all our orders. Our baskets themselves will last for years, and offer a green alternative that is both functional and fashionable. With different styles, sizes and colours, you can find the perfect one that works well for you. When you choose a market basket over a plastic bag, you are also choosing the Earth; and doesn’t that feel good?

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