Council is aiming to reduce Hobsons Bay’s plastic footprint with the launch of the Say No to Plastic Bags campaign.
Hobson Bay City Council’s Chair of the Sustainable Environment Advisory Group, Councillor Angela Altair said she was proud to be leading the way on this environmental initiative.
“Over 10 million plastic bags are used every day in Australia for an average of five minutes. They take up to 1000 years to break down.
“When not disposed of correctly, plastic bags can pollute and block local waterways and are responsible for deaths of thousands of birds, whales, seals and other marine life who often mistaken plastic bags for food. By saying no we can reduce these figures substantially.”
The campaign kicks off before the launch of a new Council recycling service whereby residents can recycle flexible plastics like checkout bags, cling wrap, bubble wrap and certain types of product packaging.
Councillor Altair said this is a big step for Hobsons Bay.
“We are one of only four councils to lead the way in Australia and offer this recycling service.”
To help get started, all households will be mailed a pack of ten bags that they can use for collecting all their flexible packaging and placing it in their yellow-lidded kerbside recycling bin.
After these bags have been used, householders can use any checkout bag to consolidate their ‘bags in a bag’.
The flexible plastic gets recycled into different products such as park benches and outdoor furniture, boardwalks, decking, and bollards.
The flexible plastic recycling service has been made possible through funding from the Victorian Government’s Metropolitan Local Government Waste and Resource Recovery Fund and the Australian Packaging Covenant, in partnership with SKM Recycling.
