UPDATE: Thanks to your support, Victoria and Western Australia have announced that they will ban single-use plastic bags! Only NSW is yet to act - keep up the pressure! Encourage Premier Gladys Berejiklian today to #BanTheBag!

The Project has teamed up with Clean Up Australia to call on NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, and WA Premier Mark McGowan to #BanTheBag. These three great Australians could see single-use non-biodegradable plastic bags banned across Australia, thanks to existing bans in South Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory, the ACT, and an impending ban in Queensland. Support for existing bans is overwhelming. In South Australia, 81% of the consumers strongly support the ban. As do 73% of Territorians, and 70% of Australians living in the ACT.

Currently, Australians use an estimated four to six billion plastic bags each year. That’s 10 million bags every day. Every minute, we send 7,150 plastic bags to landfill. But 80 million plastic bags never make it to landfill, and instead end up in our litter stream, killing 100,000 birds and marine life every year. On average, it’s estimated we use a single-use plastic bag (like you’d find at Coles and Woolies) for just 12 minutes. And that same bag could take up to 1,000 years to break down. A plastic bag you use today will share this planet with your great great great great great great great great great great great great grandchildren.

Many countries around the world, from China to Italy, Papua New Guinea to France, Taiwan to The Netherlands, have already banned plastic bags. But despite supporting in spirit, the banning of plastic bags, the Premiers of NSW, Victoria, and Western Australia are yet to lead on the issue. We want them to #BanTheBag so that Australia is not left behind as the rest of the world addresses this serious and avoidable environmental disaster.

So who will lead the way. NSW, Victoria or Western Australia?  Who will ban the bag first? Gladys Berejiklian, Daniel Andrews or Mark McGowan? Whose name will our great great great great great great great great great great great great grandchildren read in their history books?

Once you’ve signed, contact these great Australians directly and encourage them to lead the way and #BanTheBag!

GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN

NSW PREMIER

EMAIL: office@premier.nsw.gov.au

PHONE: 02 8574 5000

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/gladysnsw/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/GladysB