Auckland Mayor Phil Goff and Environment and Community Chair Councillor Penny Hulse welcomed the Government’s confirmation that it will implement a mandatory phase out of single-use plastic shopping bags in New Zealand by mid-2019.

“Removing plastic bags from our environment is great news,” the Mayor said today.

“I campaigned against single-use plastic bags and I know it’s an issue Aucklanders are concerned about.

“Aucklanders love our harbours and beaches and the bag ban is a practical, simple step which protects our environment from a major source of litter and stops hundreds of millions of plastic bags going into landfill each year.”

In Auckland, 17,000 tonnes of soft plastics were sent to landfill, as well as 200,000 tonnes of general plastics.

“We won’t reach zero-waste by phasing out single use plastic bags alone, but we will get there by if we start to reduce and remove plastic from our lives. This is a great start,” Councillor Penny Hulse said.

“Used on average for just 12 minutes, plastic bags are not biodegradable and stay in our environment indefinitely. There is a practical alternative – multi-use bags.

“The Government’s move is a good start but more needs to be done about plastic pollution.

“Container deposit legislation should be the next step as a proven way of reducing drink container litter and encouraging recycling,” Mayor Phil Goff said.

ENDS

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