Filed under: Business , Australia , Trends I mentioned a few days ago the plan by UK supermarket Tescos to  introduce bio-degradable carrier bags across the country. In Australia a similar plan has failed to produce the environmental benefits hoped for. The Australian Government's economic advisory body has recommended ditching plans to wipe out their huge use of plastic bags (estimated ot be five billion plastic bags a year), saying the costs outweigh the benefits. The idea to save marine wildlife and reduce litter was of course a good one but they say that plastic bags are not that great a threat to wildlife and that the authorities have not taken into account that bags are reused as bin liners. The commission argues that tougher anti-litter laws or harsher fines might be a better way of addressing litter. The supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles have so far failed to meet a 50 per cent reduction target by the end of last year. The image is from the BBC ; an article on green issues. Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments