Single use plastic bags (or also known as HDPE plastic bags) are slowly fading out to become a thing of the past with the nation awakening to the brutal impact single use plastic has on our oceans and environment.
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A plastic bag is used roughly for twelve minutes on average, its purpose to contain and easily transport our shopping purchases from the shops to our home. This ban has some people completely startled as this has corrupted many consumers convenience when shopping. Plastic bags only came into wide use during the 1960s, which prompts current day society to wonder how the previous generations coped.
“When I was younger bread was wrapped in paper, fruit and veg was put into your string bags as well as your other groceries and meat was also wrapped in butchers paper. No plastic bags in those days and we didn’t suffer. We walked home carrying these items, taxis cost too much. The world was good in those days.....not MAD” explains Susan Smith a local Singleton resident.
Three of Singletons’ largest shops Woolworth's, Coles and Big W have already implemented the ban in their stores, forcing customers to either bring their own bags, buy a reasonably cheap reusable bag or attempt to carry their loot to their cars or home themselves. Alongside these supermarkets is Aldi, a supermarket that has always required that customers bring their own bags or purchase their reusable bags.
Other businesses in town such as Bakers Delight and Rockmans have also placed the ban on plastic bags in their stores to reduce our eco footprint as a community.
“Every single customer we served in Rockmans this week had nothing but a positive attitude and either had their own bag or was happy to pay 30 cents to be 100% donated to "Clean up Australia". Like any change, we will adjust and it will become second nature to carry our reusable bags. As a community we are growing stronger, working together, shopping locally to support local businesses and now working together to help make our town a better environment to live in” explains Rockmans store manager Sharon Bice.
The community recycle centre (CRC) is located at the Singleton Waste Management Facility on Dyrring Road, Ferngully. The centre recycles not only plastics but some metals, batteries, oils, papers and cardboard and selected chemicals along with other miscellaneous items that often leave people questioning how or where to dispose of the item(s).
Town and Country recycling is located at 36 Enterprise Crescent and offer a cash refund for recycling eligible drink containers. Open six days a week call (02) 6572 3895 for more information.
Several businesses have also partnered up with recycling programs to help allow members of the community to recycle both soft and hard plastics at allocated deposits.
Singleton Council joined the Plastic Police partnership earlier in the year with drop off points at Singleton Public Library and the Council administration building.
Coles Singleton is part of the Redcycle program & has a drop off point near the registers - see http://www.redcycle.net.au/what-to-redcycle/ to learn what you can and can’t Redcycle.
Woolworth’s Singleton have partnered up with TOMRA’s Return and Earn, a container deposit scheme that allows people to drop off empty containers and redeem vouchers. Find out more information at https://returnandearn.org.au/return_point/snsw-singleton/ or https://mytomra.com.au/.
