Pressure on Newman govt to reduce plastics

Queensland Conservation (QCC) has called on the Newman government to urgently act to reduce plastics entering the environment following the Tasmanian Government’s announcement of a plastic bag ban.

“Single-use plastic bags are deadly to wildlife, and the best thing we can do is to stop using them,” said Toby Hutcheon, Executive Director of QCC.

QCC is calling on the Newman government to:

• phase out single-use plastic bags by 2015;
• join with other Australian jurisdictions and support a National Container Deposit Scheme for beverage containers;
• ensure a state ban on the release of plastic helium balloons at public events is implemented.

“30% of all stranded sea turtles found in Moreton Bay have died as a direct result of marine (plastic) debris ingestion,” said marine scientists Dr Kathy Townsend from the Moreton Bay Research Station.

Lord Howe Island researcher Ian Hutton said he found plastic in the stomach of every single chick he examined during a recent study. “Many contained such large amounts that the chick’s death by starvation was guaranteed,” Hutton said.