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Sydney tops international list of worst plastic bag offenders

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Sydney supermarket shoppers are using more new plastic bags than those in other major cities, including Melbourne, London and Hong Kong, according to a survey of more than 4000 customers conducted by University of Technology journalism students in March this year writes Shushu He.

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Green Bags slighted on 12-items-or-less

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Employees at a major supermarket are not enforcing any policies on plastic bags, and failing to encourage the use of environmentally friendly Green Bags. Rachel Pieris and Andrew Stewart investigate. […]

Going green not always an option

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Australian retail heavyweights Coles and Woolworths are ignoring environmental policy that provides customers with the option of going without a plastic bag for three items or less. Daniella Ivanoska and Marcus Braid report. […]

Plastic Bags and the Art of Looking Busy

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For four decades they’ve been one of the most prominent symbols of environmental degradation. Blamed for killing marine life, polluting landscapes, even contributing to Bangladesh’s catastrophic floods, plastic shopping bags are a daily reminder of our dependence on disposable and petrochemical-derived modern convenience. Rees Steel reports. […]

From Hamburg to Sydney: a travelogue on a theme of plastic bags

Australian travel with a difference. Explore the plastic bag issue with our two GEJI reporters from the University of Hamburg, Imke Emmerich and Laura Schneider.

Watch a video of Imke Emmerich and Laura Schneider talking about their findings in Sydney:

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On the spot: Cherrybrook

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Each week, Martelli’s Fruit Market in Cherrybrook Village in north-western Sydney goes through eight large boxes of new plastic bags, each containing thousands.

It used to offer green bags but the high cost and decreasing demand led it to shift back to plastic. The GEJI survey found 75% of its customers were using plastic.

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