Australia next to ban free plastic bags

Do you come from a land Down Under? Can you hear, can you hear the thunder? If the answer is yes, you’re either in the Aussie band Men at Work or you’re a politician caught up in the South Australian stampede to back the free plastic bags ban.

(You may remember that China did a similar thing late last year and it went over quite well – and demonstrated once again that the country is coming up with some none too shabby ideas on sustainability.)

According to News.com.au the single use bags will be banned by 2009 in the state with the rest of the country following suit in time.

The paper quotes South Australian Premier Mike Rann as saying:

“We started the anti-plastic bag fight and we’re pushing ahead regardless of whether a nationally consistent approach is agreed to in the meantime”.

Needless to say, there’s been a bit of pushing and shoving and complaining about the ban, but it seems to me Aussies are already there: it’s quite commonplace to see young and old alike tramping down the supermarket with reusable bags ready to go.