Bags, Peter and Bio-degradability
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett's decision to phase-out plastic bags has naturally caused a storm amongst various stakeholders. Some have suggested that bio-degradable bags are the answer but BioBag Australasia director Neil Thomson said a number of bags marketed as bio-degradable do not pass Australian standards. Naturally he said that his company’s products do.
BioBag bin liners (Courtesy of BioBag Australia)
BioBag products are made of Mater-Bi, a material based on renewable resources including starch and vegetable oils. The products pass the European Standard EN 13432 on which the Australian Standard AS 4736 is based. To pass these standards, products are assessed according to criteria such as bio-degradability, which is determined by measuring the metabolic conversion of the compostable material into CO2, they must be made of low levels of heavy metals and they must disintegrate to at least 10% of the initial mass within six months.
Neil Thomson stated that some bags that are marketed as bio-degradable and supplied to a number of small retailers are actually made of oxydegradable plastic. These products, which largely come from Malaysia and China, contain higher than the acceptable levels of heavy metals to meet Australian standards. They also disintegrate leaving small particles of plastic in the environment and do not compost or bio-degrade to acceptable levels.
He said reducing the amount of plastic bags ending up in landfill and in the environment requires cutting down on the use of "one trip bags", meaning re-using bags when possible. Where bags are needed, retailers should supply bio-degradable bags that meet Australian standards. He said bio-degradable bags are currently more expensive to produce and this was the main barrier preventing their widespread use.
Gerard van Rijswijk from the National Association of Retail Grocers of Australia (NARGA) claims the Irish experience shows that taxing or levying plastic shopping bags does not work in practice as a litter reduction tool. He said Irish litter statistics show shopping bags made up 0.75% of litter prior to the introduction of the tax in 2002, and the latest litter statistic shows that the level is now 0.53% – a drop of 0.22% in five years. Meanwhile sales of bin liners have soared by more than 400%, he said.
No doubt the debate from all sides will hot up!
Extracts of story taken from www.EnvironmentalManagementNews.net
Communications, Sustainability, Climate Change and Men’s Sheds!
What do Communications, Sustainability, Climate Change and Men’s Sheds have in common? They are all part of EcoForum 2008 to be held at the Gold Coast between February 27 and 29. I&I thought that the diverse nature of the conference streams was quite innovative in itself. These streams include:
• How perceptions of risk can influence communications and decision making
• Building sustainable cities
• Resource security and climate change
• Resource recovery through men’s sheds
• Capitalising on water from coal seam gas production
Two examples of the conference streams are:
Perceptions of Risk and Communications: Explores how people perceive risk and therefore make decisions, and accordingly how we might manage the process of communicating with community groups and other stakeholders about projects that present perceptions of risk to the community and neighbours; keynote speaker is Joe Arvai from Michigan State, who has been working extensively on perceptions of risk and decision making.
Photo: Joe Arvai
As part of this communications stream, there will also be the EcoForum art exhibition - works of art commissioned from students at ANU on the rehabilitation of Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour. The exhibition and discussions will demonstrate how different people can interpret what they see in very different ways - and thus, how art might be used to complement our communication with stakeholders.
Men’s Shed and Recovering Resources: Explores issues associated with establishing a Mens' Shed on the Kimbriki Waste Disposal & Resource Recovery site in the northern beaches of Sydney. The aim is to establish an operating model that can be uplifted and rolled-out across the country where councils and other groups associated with resource recovery and extended producer responsibility schemes are keen to see both men’s mental health and wellbeing promoted along with extra resource recovery achieved from our landfills.
More details on this unusual conference can be found at www.ecoforum.net.au
High petrol prices – can bio-fuels help the budget and the future?
The Biofuels Association of Australia, Caltex, the South Australian Government, the Victorian Government and Woolworths are among the members of the CSIRO's newly formed Future Fuels Forum (FFF) that will bring together community, industry and government to plan for the sustainable future of transport fuels in Australia.
Emissions trading, future fuels and international oil supply are some of the factors that will be discussed as the forum examines the main challenges for Australia in arriving at a secure and sustainable transport fuel mix for road, rail, air and sea to 2050.
"Cost effective transport underpins our lifestyles and economy. We need to start work now to ensure the sector can continue to deliver its many benefits and address its environmental impact along with other important issues relating to fuel security and supply," said Dr John Wright, director of the CSIRO Energy Transformed National Research Flagship.
The FFF is designed to provide input to decision makers in industry and government on strategic policy and future investment. A report will be released on the FFF’s findings in June.
More about the CSIRO’s Energy Transformed National Research Flagship and the Future Fuels Forum can be found on www.csiro.au
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