Press release – 6 September, 2016Sydney, 7 September 2016 – Environmental campaigners staged an elaborate battle between a turtle and a plastic-bag monster in Martin Square this morning to highlight the dangers of plastic pollution. The battle took place ahead of the delivery of a petition of more than 20,000 signatures asking the state’s environment minister to ban single-use plastic bags in New South Wales.Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaigner Samantha Wockner said: “The average plastic bag is used for just 12 minutes before it is thrown away, but the damage these bags do to our oceans lasts for centuries afterwards.
“Turtles and other sea creatures are especially vulnerable to plastic pollution, as they can choke after mistaking bits of plastic in the ocean for food.
“If we want to take care of our environment, clean up our oceans and protect turtles and other sea life, then the NSW government needs to ban single-use grocery bags.”
The plastic bag monster is made of 380 plastics bags –  the number of bags Australians use every 2-3 per second. [1]
Single-use plastic bags have already been banned in South Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Similar petitions have been delivered to state environment ministers in Victoria and Queensland. [2]
Australians use around 4 billion plastic bags every year, with half of these are consumed in New South Wales. The average plastic bag is used for just 12 minutes and only 14% are recycled. [3]
The petition will be delivered to NSW environment minister Mark Speakman’s office later this morning.
NOTES:
Photos available for publication here
[1] http://www.cleanup.org.au/au/Campaigns/plastic-bag-facts.html
[2] Ban the Bag petition, Greenpeace. https://act.greenpeace.org.au/efforts/ban-the-bag-1
[3] Plastic shopping bags options paper, NSW Environment Protection Agency. Feb 2016. http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/resources/waste/160143-plastic-shopping-bags-options.pdf