Australia introduces plastic bag landfill reduction drive

The government of South Australia has introduced a ban on traditional plastic carrier bags in a bid to prevent excessive numbers of them being sent to landfill sites every year.

Beginning on May 4th, the ban will mean that supermarkets will no longer be permitted to sell the bags and that 400 million will be diverted from landfill annually.

Jay Weatherill, the state's environment minister, stated that stores which continue to sell the bags will be fined, but pointed out that re-useable bags will still be available for customers, reported ABC News.

These bags are "quite sturdy and can be re-used and are re-used a lot of times", he added, therefore, the government is "still supporting those".

Mr Weatherill continued: "Some other bags, those bags on a roll, we still need those for fruit and veg and for meat, just for hygiene purposes so they'll still be there."

Concerns over plastic bag usage have also been growing in the UK, where residents have been urged to carry re-useable versions as research indicated that the average person gets through 13,000 plastic bags in their lifetime.