Heat and Fury on Plastic Bags Misses the Big Waste Picture

Amid all the fury, shouting and corporate repositioning on the issue of plastic supermarket bags, we have somehow lost sight of the big picture on plastic waste. 

As Pete Shmigel, CEO of the Australian Council of Recycling, explained on Open House the amount of plastic waste generated by single use shopping bags is a tiny proportion of the plastic waste generated by households.  Every year Australian households generate around 60 kg of plastic waste of which 2 kg is disposable shopping bags. 

To listen to our Open House podcast of this story click the red play button at the top of the page, or you can subscribe to Open House podcasts in iTunes and they will appear in your feed.