Say goodbye to plastic bags.
Major supermarkets have all banned these single-use shopping bags.
And the bags have also been banned from all stores across most states and territories.
So that means we can either pay for the default heavy-duty bags,
or we can bring our own.
So what are the options, and how do they stack up?
Basically, there’s three things you need to think about — how the bag is produced,
how many times you’ll use it, and how you can dispose of it.
If your aim is to reduce the amount of plastic you use, replacing the single-use bags with
the heavy-duty ones doesn’t really add up.
It takes more energy to make one of these, compared to one of these.
Which means you’ll need to use this at least four times before it becomes more beneficial.
About 1 per cent of plastic bags used in Australia end up in the environment.
Which doesn’t sound like much, until you realise that Australians use more than 10 million
plastic bags a day.
So what about degradable plastic bags?
They’re often confused with biodegradable bags, but they’re definitely not the same.
Degradable bags do break down when exposed to sunlight and oxygen, but into smaller plastic parts.
They're made from plastic, whereas biodegradable bags are made from corn starch or other plant material.
These bags meet Australian standards, and break down into carbon dioxide, methane, biomass and water.
Now we’ve all seen these before — the green bag.
They’re made of a heavy-duty, non-woven polypropylene.
Basically that's a type of plastic which is a by-product of oil refining.
But even though it’s a product of fossil fuels, it actually doesn’t take that much
energy to produce.
Which means you’ll only need to use these bags 11 times to break even with the single-use bags.
The drawback?
Like the degrabable bags, they can break down into microplastics if they find their way
into the environment.
Canvas tote bags are another popular alternative.
A lot of tote bags nowadays are made of 100% cotton.
Because of this though, it's a pretty energy and water intensive option.
Basically it requires a lot of water to grow cotton — almost 8 million litres of water
for every hectare in Australia.
And from a climate change perspective, you’ll need to use a tote bag at least 131 times before
you’ll make up for the extra energy needed.
But the good thing is you can use them hundreds or thousands of times, they’re washable
and — most importantly — they’re biodegradable.
Paper bags aren’t very common in supermarkets anymore,
but they’re still used in other retail stores.
Unlike plastic bags, paper bags break down easily and don’t accumulate in the ocean
and other environments.
But that’s also part of the problem.
Once you get them wet, they’re hard not to tear.
And you’d need to reuse them a few times to balance out their global warming potential.
Hessian, or burlap bags, are a more sustainable choice.
Hessian is made from the fibres of the jute plant.
It’s second only to cotton in terms of the amount produced for commercial purposes, and
it requires little pesticide, herbicide or fertiliser.
More than 80 per cent of the world’s jute is grown in Bangladesh and India.
This means there is a carbon cost in transporting jute to Australia.
But the crop itself is effectively carbon neutral.
One hectare consumes about 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is stored in the plant and fibre.
And it’s also 100 per cent biodegradable.
Some jute bags are lined with plastic though, so that's something to keep an eye out for.
So there are heaps of alternatives, and some better than others.
Yes, you will need to use them a fair bit to make them worthwhile.
But remember that in the long term, the best case scenario is one where we don’t use
non-degradable plastic bags at all.
So the best thing you can do is to find a reusable bag that suits you, and do just that
- reuse it.
One thing we didn’t get to touch on properly in the video was what to do if you use your plastic bags
as bin liners.
There’s a few different options — including lining your bin with newspaper, or using a
biodegradable plastic bag, or not lining your bin at all.
There's also a few things you could do earlier on,
including recycling or composting your food waste.