ericc, some recycling, done at factory/industrial level, of waste generated in the manufacturing process is of some use, saving some loss, although rarely recouping the full value of the material involved.

Virtually every other form of recycling requires subsidising by the public to some level.

Any recycling business making a profit from domestic waste is being supported in that profit by rate/taxpayers.

Time to bite the bullet, & burn the junk.

While I am personally in favour of changing our plastics use, I am dumbfounded as to why little ol Oz thinks we can save the world when the world does not appear to care a hoot.

Personally I have seen plastic bags in the ocean, although more so in estuaries, but I guess that's still the ocean.

I also watched a doco on the plastic content of krill. While I don't remember the percentage, 17% comes to mind, being 17% of krill was in fact plastic.

Of cause the problem is the opponents of plastic show images of whales with loads of plastic rubbish in their mouths. This is utterly false as whales eat tiny food (krill). If only they knew the damage they do to their own arguments.

Unfortunately, while straws can be replaced with paper, which by the way means cutting down trees, plastic bags are harder to replace, especially when consumers have to dig into their own pockets. Time will tell.

Andrew Bolt, in today's "Telegraph" points to the fact that Woolworths are selling plastic reusable bags but with the admonition not to wash them, Bolt points out (and gives references) that not washing the bags is a health hazard that can possibly lead to death.

Thanks for this Is Mise

I couldn't access the Daily Telegraph but I found this which has quite a few decent references.

https://billmuehlenberg.com/2018/06/23/on-banning-plastic-bags/

A reusable bag weighs 30 grams and a "single use" plastic bag weighs 30 grams so 70 times as much. You can probably put 3 times as much stuff in a reusable bag so lets say you need to use it 25-30 times to make the environmental impact equal to a "single use" bag. If you use your "single use" bag to pick up dog poo, collect your chicken bones, line your garbage bin, line your little compost bin or use it for some other purpose that you would have to buy a bag for; this calculation becomes more complicated and with every other use it starts to favour the light weight "single use" bag more and more.

My guide would be if you are throwing a lot of "single use" bags away every week, get some reusable bags. If you aren't throwing any away, keep reusing your single use bags.

I find it hard to believe that anybody puts raw meat in a reusable bag. If you are not doing that it is unlikely that reusable bags would carry the kind of bacteria that is being claimed in these articles. To be fair I have not studied the references which make these claims. I am sure though that if you are bringing home, packets of sesame wheats, oreos, sultana bran, potato chips and pepsi like I do, there is a very minimal risk of anything to do with bacteria. It seems silly to wash the bags unless you spill something in them. I have a couple bags I've used for a couple years and they are still clean and usable.

Side note: I also use the reusable bags for other purposes than just groceries so that would add to the number of "uses" per year.

Andrew Bolt highlighted the comment I made in the article about the enemies of environmental protection using these meaningless gestures to pour scorn on all environmental protection initiatives by concluding along the lines of "Isn't this just typical of green policies, they don't do any good for the environment and they might even kill you." Bolt doesn't believe in global warming and doesn't generally think any green initiative is worthwhile and this kind of policy helps him make his point.

Dear Hasbeen,

You can be a thoroughly daft old coot sometimes mate.

You wrote;

“I have never seen a plastic bag out there or in the gut of any marine creature.”

Well unless you are slaughtering sea turtles, dolphins or sea birds you probably wouldn't have you clown.

Then there was this little bit of rambling;

“If he had any idea of it's very minor effect on wildlife, he'd be damn sure to keep it hidden, so as not to spoil the bulldust green narrative.”

Hidden? You don't even have to be in Australia to know of the devastation these things wrought on our sea turtles for instance.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3265825/Shocking-x-ray-autopsy-photos-shopping-bags-kill-sea-turtles-leaving-balls-plastic-stomach-rupture-intestines.html

“Senior veterinarian at Sydney's Taronga Zoo Dr Larry Vogelnest said 70 per cent of turtles they get in have ingested plastic and about 20 per cent of those end up dying”

Well there is at least one thing you are right about, shopping bags don't last intact in the ocean for a very long time. That means it isn't the shopping bags out of Asia that are doing the damage to our sea turtles but our very own.

Why in the hell do I repeatedly have to explain the obvious to you each and every time?

Useless idiot is an apt description.