Across Australia there are more than 200 communities working on initiative to reduce plastic shopping bags as illustrated by the following maps (last update 8/04)

 

 

 

Community of Esperance : Bag Smart Programme

The Bag Smart Success Story

Bag Smart is a campaign to reduce our use of plastic shopping bags - the ‘single use’ bag. The programme has been extremely successful in Esperance achieving a 50% reduction in 3 years.

Coles Bay

Coles Bay Tasmania has thrown down the challenge for other towns in Australia to go plastic bag free. Since April 2003 all retail outlets in Coles Bay have banned plastic shopping bags at the checkouts. In the first 12months they stopped using 350,000 plastic bags. For further information click here. 

Lord Howe Island

Lord Howe Island is home to the most southerly coral reef and a myriad of bird, sea and plant life, many endemic to the Island and found nowhere else on the Planet. The Island received its World Heritage status at the same time as the Great Barrier Reef. 

The Island is located 550 km off the east-coast of Australia and is home to 368 permanent residents and 13,000 tourists annually visit the Island. 

The Island is administered by the Lord Howe Island Board and comes under the jurisdiction of the New South Wales State Government. A range of environmental controls are in place to protect the Island’s delicate eco-system including a restriction on the number of tourist beds, motor vehicles and pets. 

At odds with the Island’s rare and vibrant eco-system was a crude waste management system until the Island embraced a Waste Minimisation and Management Strategy prepared by APrince Consulting and launched in June 2000.  The Strategy aimed to reduce the amount of waste generated on the Island, to improve the handling and recycling opportunities for waste and to divert in excess of 80% of waste from landfill. 

A cornerstone of the strategy was the installation of a Bio Waste Facility to treat all garden, sewerage sludge, paper and food waste generated on the Island into a finished compost. An expanded range of materials are now collected and shipped to the mainland for recycling. The landfill has been closed and all residual waste which can not be reused or recycled is shipped for disposal in a regional mainland landfill.

Education and information were critical components of the communication program to ensure visitors and residents modified their purchasing patterns and waste generating behavior. 

Retailers agreed in principle, to introduce a charge for each plastic shopping bag as an interim measure prior to phasing them out.  Calico bags are screened by the local Arts Council with designs created by the local school students.  These bags have been in use for over four years and retail for $2.75.  The alternative is to purchase a plastic bag for 50 cents per bag.  All retail outlets promote the Island bag or their own branded bag.

Through a range of extensive initiatives, Lord Howe has achieved reductions in waste to landfill by over 80% and continues to strive for continual improvement.

Lord Howe is a world class example of how communities can move to more sustainable practices. 

Rottnest Island - registered February 2004, launched April 2005

Rottnest boasts some of the finest beaches and bays in the world together with a unique style of architecture dating back to the 1800s. It has a fascinating history as an Aboriginal penal settlement, an internment camp during both World Wars, a place for salt gathering and processing and a World War II military installation. It is well known to all Western Australians as a place for recreation, being first used by the Governors of Western Australia as a holiday resort between 1848 and 1919. The Island was named late in 1696 by Dutch explorers, who called it "Rotte-nest" meaning rat’s nest, mistaking the quokkas for huge rats. Rottnest Island registered to become Bag Smart in February 2004 as part of the much broader Strategic Waste and Resource Management Plan developed by APrince Consulting for the Rottnest Island Authority (RIA).

The Bag Smart role in supporting Rottnest Island has been:

• Offer our input and support for the development of a Island plan to become plastic bag freeTo act as a facilitator between the parties, and supporting the development work undertaken by APrince Consulting 
• To provide materials to support the local endeavours of the retailers, school and community educators
  
  Consultation with the following people: 
• All retailers called upon and encouraged to continue their efforts on the plastic bag issue. Posters and incentive coupons provided to school Principal and teachers at the school briefed on Bag Smart; education kits and CDs provided 
• Bag Smart workshop for all students at the school - approximately 35 students

Strategies employed:

Rottnest Island Authority (RIA) 

• A FREE Rottnest Island “Bag for Life” is provided with each accommodation booking Rottnest Island “Bag for Life” sold at gift shop for $2.50 
• Bike rack and/or basket or canvas bag is provided on every bike hire

G Store and Geordie Bay Store

• Banners outlining “Say No to plastic bags” provided to supermarkets detailing the following alternatives: 
• FREE home delivery service using cardboard boxes” Bag for Life” reusable bags sold for $2.50. A deposit/refund system for shopping baskets introduced at $5 per basket. Backpacks are available for $9.95 
• Plastic shopping bags placed under the counter and only offered on request

Bakery

• Banners outlining “Say No to plastic bags” provided detailing the following alternatives:
• FREE cardboard boxes
• Charge of 40 cents for each paper bag with handle

What's planned:

• RIA premises, The Rottnest Lodge and Hotel will use biodegradable bin liners Supermarkets are planning to charge a fee for each plastic bag in the future
• The RIA and supermarkets are planning to distribute and sell the cheap alternative “Green Bag” in the future when supplies are available

RIA premises, The Rottnest Lodge and Hotel will use biodegradable bin liners Supermarkets are planning to charge a fee for each plastic bag in the future