Fed: top pollies to go without plastic bags for a weekend

AAP General News (Australia)
08-10-2004
Fed: top pollies to go without plastic bags for a weekend

CANBERRA, Aug 10 AAP - Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, Labor's foreign affairs
spokesman Kevin Rudd and Australian Democrats Senator Natasha Stott Despoja are vowing
to go without plastic bags for one weekend this month.

They are among 100 federal politicians who are taking part in the Plastic Bag Famine
on August 21-22.

In their campaign to wean Australians off their plastic shopping bag habit, Planet
Ark has sent every federal politician a free reusable shopping bag and challenged them
to set an example.

"Many of our politicians are taking the pledge to go without plastic bags for two whole
days," Planet Ark founder Jon Dee said in a statement.

"But now it's time for the rest of us to join them in the 48-hour Plastic Bag Famine
- we want all of Australia's shoppers to take part."

Mr Dee said getting involved was simple.

"All people have to do is register themselves at PlasticBagFamine.com.

"Then, when you go shopping on August 21-22, take your own reusable bags with you.

Mr Dee said Australia used 6.4 billion plastic check-out bags every year.

"We only use them for minutes, but they can last for hundreds of years and kill huge
numbers of wildlife," he said.

"Communities like Coles Bay in Tasmania have already banned plastic check-out bags
in all of their retail outlets. They've banned them all-year-round. Surely it's not too
much to ask for Australians to ban them from their lives for just one weekend," he said.

Planet Ark has a warning for the public and politicians who are taking part.

"Despite society's best efforts, there are still thousands of bag pushers out there
trying to keep your bag habit going," said Dee.

The Plastic Bag Famine runs for all of Saturday August 21st and ends on midnight Sunday
August 22.

AAP dep/sb/sco/de

KEYWORD: PLASTIC

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