Page 4025 - Week 10 - Thursday, 20 September 2018
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(2) The 2014 review was based on a telephone survey of over 600 randomly selected residents conducted by Piazza Research in 2014. The primary grocery shopper of each household was interviewed.
(3) The actual tonnes of plastic waste going in to landfill is not measured. A sampling audit methodology is used to estimate the tonnes of plastics going to landfill. Sampling audits are carried out periodically at the Transfer stations, the landfill, and on household waste bins.
The material compositions that are obtained by these sampling audits are then used to convert total tonnes of waste to landfill into tonnes by material type. The total tonnes of waste to landfill is obtained by weighbridge records.
The category of ‘plastics’ includes: Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), High-density polyethylene (HDPE), Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) packaging, Low-density polyethylene (LDPE), Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS), plastic film and plastic bags.
The estimated tonnes of plastics going to landfill using this methodology is included below.
|
2011-12 |
2012-13 |
2013-14 |
2014-15 |
2015-16 |
2016-17 |
2017-18 | |
|
Plastics |
34,685t |
32,057t |
24,419t |
24,930t |
25,182t |
27,244t |
26,055t |
Note: the audits used as the basis for these estimates were carried out in 2011, 2014 and 2017.
(4) Data is not collected on the number of plastic bags going to landfill, as they are received in mixed loads of waste. The 2012 review of the ban estimated that around 182 tonnes of single-use plastic bags were sent to landfill in the 6 month period 1 May 2011 to 31 October 2011. Not all shoppers bring their own shopping bags and instead choose to purchase ‘boutique bags’ (made of thicker plastic, not covered by the ban). Replacing single-use plastic bags with boutique bags still results in these bags being sent to landfill after a varying period of re-use. The 2014 review estimated that around 114 tonnes of boutique bags were sent to landfill in the 6 month period 1 May 2013 to 31 October 2013.
This suggests a reduction in plastic bag waste to landfill of around 68 tonnes per 6 months as a result of the ban, so around 136 tonnes per year. This equates to a reduction of around 950 tonnes of plastic bag waste since the ban was introduced in November 2011.
(5) The ban aimed to change the behaviour of shoppers to reduce single use plastic shopping bags. Barrier bags have different issues associated with them, including food safety.
(6) The Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment is due to release a review of the plastic bag ban shortly. The Government will carefully consider any response this review
(7) The review has been prepared and submitted by the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment to the Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability.
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