Australia's two leading supermarkets, coles and woolworths, said they had cut about 4.7 billion single-use plastic bags in a year since they were banned from the roads in July last year.But research has found that the ban may do more harm than good.
According to a UN report in June 2018, less than 9 percent of the 9 billion tons of plastic produced worldwide is recycled.According to the United Nations environment programme, around five trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide each year, a figure that has prompted more than 60 countries to ban them, and other large multinationals such as ikea and starbucks to follow suit.
In ban plastic, Australia has been in the forefront.On July 7, the state government of south Australia announced that it will submit a bill to the state parliament to ban single-use plastic products, including straws, stirring sticks, cutlery and other plastic products, by 2020. If the case is passed, south Australia will become the first local government in Australia to legislate against single-use plastic products.The state has banned nondegradable single-use plastic bags for 10 years.
The state of Victoria may ban the use of lightweight single-use plastic shopping bags in supermarkets, fashion boutiques, fast food restaurants, convenience stores and service stations from November 2019 after the government introduced the plastic ban into parliament on June 20.
New south wales is the only state without a ban on single-use plastic bags. Ms stott, a representative of the Australian retail federation, said she hoped the state would act quickly, rather than relying on voluntary bans from big supermarkets to reduce the use of plastic bags, to make the policy more effective.