New Zealand plastic ban: New Zealand will ban thin plastic bags, plastic straws and silverware that are used by customers in supermarkets from Saturday, as part of its environment protection campaign in terms of single-use plastic launched in 2019.
The government had banned the use of thick plastic shopping bags used by customers to carry groceries, instead opting for reusable polyester bags, AP reported. The aim of this campaign stems from concerns over the country's large number of waste production.
According to Associate Environment Minister Rachel Brooking, New Zealand produces "too much plastic waste" and the 2019 ban had prevented the use of over 1 billion plastic bags in the country.
She also said that the latest ban will reduce the use of 150 million plastic bags per year. On concerns posed by officials that the ban would be environmentally ineffective if customers switched to disposable paper bags, Brooking said that supermarkets would sell reusable produce bags.
Additionally, penalties could be imposed on businesses if they are found in violation of new rules concerning the plastic ban.
Meanwhile, Catherine Langabeer, head of sustainability at Countdown, a supermarket store, said that polyester mesh bags, which can be washed and reused upto 5,000 times, will take a little while to get used to. "We get some grumpy customers," she said.
This comes after the environmental policies of New Zealand have come under criticism since the then-Jacinda Ardern government declared a climate emergency in 2020, mostly pointing towards the failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions despite promising to combat global warming.
