The Two Oceans Aquarium will acknowledge and raise awareness of International Plastic Bag Free Day on 3 July 2015. The Aquarium will run a “single-use plastic bags for a reusable bag” exchange – the first 40 people to each bring 20 single-use plastic bags will receive one reusable bag in exchange.
The Two Oceans Aquarium, through its Rethink the Bag campaign, aims at having the single-use plastic shopping bag banned in South Africa. Hayley McLellan, the initiator of the Rethink the Bag campaign and the Aquarium’s environmental campaigner, has worked tirelessly since 2010 to educate people, establish partnerships and promote the campaign.
The Aquarium declared a ban on staff and volunteers bringing plastic bags onto the premises in 2011. Since then, Butterfly World, Cango Wildlife Ranch and the South African Association for Marine Biological Research, incorporating uShaka Marine World in Durban, have all followed suit. In 2014, Greyton became the first “plastic bag-free town” in South Africa and there is strong interest from other towns, schools and retailers to do the same.
Single-use shopping bags have a tremendous impact on the environment. South African consumers use approximately eight billion shopping bags each year; of these, about 96% end up in landfill and also threaten the lives of marine and terrestrial animals. Research has shown that the average functioning lifespan of a shopping bag is approximately 20 minutes, where after it is discarded.
“Every day we hear about what is going wrong in the environment and this can feel disempowering. Always choosing reusable bags, rather than plastic bags, is such a simple way for each person to do something to benefit our world and feel like they are making a difference, seemingly against the odds. Be unwavering and make this your promise to our beautiful country,” says McLellan.
Apart from the environmental impact there is also an economic impact for consumers. In 2003 a levy was included in the price of each shopping bag sold in South Africa. Between 2004 and 2014, R1.2-billion was collected through this levy. Only R200-million of this money has been allocated to the Department of Environmental Affairs. In 2011, the company that was established to manage the funds generated by the bag levy was disbanded. However, consumers continue to pay the bag levy every time they purchase a single-use plastic shopping bag.
Did you know?
- Animals (marine and terrestrial) mistake plastic bags for food. Once ingested, the animals die from intestinal blockages and starvation
- Chemicals leached from plastic have a compounded impact on the food chain
- Plastic bags also block sewerage systems, which leads to flooding
- Eighty-percent of all marine litter is plastic
- Plastic bags can last between 500 and 1 000 years before they degrade
To show your support for the Rethink the Bag campaign, please visit www.rethinkthebag.org and sign the petition urging the South African government to place an outright ban on single-use plastic bags. For detailed information about the campaign, please contact Hayley McLellan on Hayley.mclellan@aquarium.co.za.
