About the GEJI 2009 Plastic Bag survey
In March 2009, a GEJI plastic bag survey was conducted by journalism students at the University of Technology, Sydney, Monash University in Melbourne, City University in London and Hong Kong Baptist University. They counted and recorded the number and type of bags carried by more than 7000 consumers as they left stores.
GEJI reporters also observed the practices of checkout cashiers and whether stores were complying with their stated policies, and whether they offered reusable bags or cotton bags as an alternative to plastic bags.
The largest survey was conducted in Sydney on March 23, where more than 100 student reporters, working in pairs, surveyed 4000-plus customers in about 50 supermarkets across the city. This makes it the largest plastic bag survey ever conducted in Sydney.
In addition, more than 1000 customers were surveyed in each of Melbourne, Hong Kong and London during the last week of March.
GEJI reporters also interviewed hundreds of customers about their attitude to plastic bags.
More advanced UTS environmental reporting students at UTS analysed the results, producing statistics and graphs.
Journalism students at City University and environmental reporting students at UTS also conducted background research which resulted in the many other reports on this site.