The Saint is delighted to see at least some sensible, people power finally paying dividends.
Your old mate’s bon vivant attitude towards his fellow man (and woman) was stirred up with Foodstuffs recent about turn over its ridiculous, stupid and rather foolish plastic bag tax.
The supermarket co-operative had decided - in a pique of faux green washing - a month or so back to impose a plastic bag tax on all of its customers. It appears the owners of the Countdown, New World and Four Square chains mistakenly thought this token effort would not only curry favour with consumers, but also earn them bonus green miles with the tree huggers as well.
However, following hugely negative customer backlash, in which all they seemed to achieve from the stupid 5 cent a bag charge was to piss their customers off and send them through the doors of their competitors and fierce rivals Progressive Enterprise, the powers that be at the co-op changed their minds and dropped plans for the bag charge.
This was done faster than your average Green MP claims air points, when they found out their customers were revolting. However, the saint humbly suggests, that it was not the customers who were revolting, but Foodstuffs for making such a wussy, lily-livered, feel good decision in the first place.
Apart from seriously misjudging their customers and the actual commitment of New Zealanders’ to non problems like this – especially when they are going to be charged for it – the Saint has a few more questions such as:
Just how serious a problem are plastic bags anyway? Is it really the number one environmental problem in world?
And, even if you believe all the doom and gloom propaganda emanating from the likes Greenpeace, the Green Party et el on a daily basis about the impending end of the world, is this the sort of issue a supermarket chain should be involved in.
Did Foodstuffs actually do any research in to the subject? Or did they just think their customers would tow the line because it was one of those green, feel good causes?
The fact is that there are so many myths about the evils of plastic bags circulating around in the media that it is not hard to get caught up in all the green wash. It seems our green friends have taken a leaf out of Hitler’s very able and very evil propaganda maestro Joseph Goebbels’ PR handbook by using the mantra of if you repeat a lie enough times the public will believe it. But if you cut through all the hype and puffery much of the anti plastic bag claims do not stack up.
Here are a just few examples:
Claim: Plastic bags kill 1,000 of marine mammals and sea turtles every year.
In the marine environment, plastic bag litter is lethal, killing thousands of whales, turtles and other sea life every year.
- World Wildlife Fund Report 2005
Fact: In 2006 the Australian government corrected claims that thousands of animals were being killed by plastic bags.
Note: In September 2006, the report was revised to correct an error on page 30.
The sentence:
'A figure of 100,000 marine animals killed annually has been widely quoted by environmental groups; this figure was from a study in Newfoundland which estimated the number of animals entrapped by plastic bags in that area from a four-year period from 1981-84'.
Has been replaced with:
'A figure of 100,000 marine animals killed annually has been widely quoted by environmental groups; this figure was from a study in Newfoundland which estimated the number of animals entrapped by plastic debris in that area from a four-year period from 1981-84'.
- Australian Government
Claim: Most bags end up as litter.
"Bags get blown around…to different parts of our lands…and to our seas, lakes and rivers. Bags find their way into the sea via drains and sewage pipes."
CNN.com/Technology, November 16, 2007
Fact: The vast majority of bags are actually reused or disposed of properly.
The Australian government pointed out that ”60% of bags taken home are reused as bin liners or waste bags, lunch bags, and general carry bags.”
Plastic Shopping Bags in Australia: National Plastic Bags Working Group Report to the National Packaging Covenant Council
DECEMBER 6, 2007
Claim: Plastic bags are the most common beach litter.
"Plastic bags account for over 10 percent of the debris washed up on the U.S. coastline."
- National Marine Debris Monitoring Program
Fact: The Ocean Conservancy’s 2007 International Costal Cleanup Report notes that among litter 8% of the items picked up were plastic bags. Bags even trailed cigarette related items at 27.2%, food wrappers at 9.6%, and caps and lids at 9.1%.
- Ocean Conservancy’s 2007 International Costal Cleanup Report
It appears even a rudimentary check of the facts shows that plastic bags are probably not the root cause of the earth’s eventual destruction as portrayed by some.
Meanwhile, the Saint is delighted that Foodstuffs has seen the error of its ways and will no longer be trading on people’s guilt in an effort to make a few cents and pretend they are saving the planet.
Perhaps it is time someone told the do-gooders in the red shirts at the Warehouse the facts as well. The company would do a whole lot more for the planet if they stopped importing the plane loads of junk, made in high C02 polluting countries like China and India into NZ each week, rather than taxing the bags those poor ugg-boot-wearing saps who carry this crap out of their stores in every day.
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