LoCarb

I can't be bothered with the Greens.

They worry about plastic bags while kids in South Auckland still get rheumatic fever. Go figure

BEVS

Plastic bags are wreaking havoc with wildlife , marine wildlife and the environment including right here in New Zealand.

They also worry about mining. Waterway quality and the like.

LoCarb

Put a government 5c refund on plastic bags then.

As a kid I used to get one or two pounds pocket money from collecting bottles at exhibitions at Earls Court

BEVS

That won't work. Usage has gone too far for that . In any case that is not what is needed. What is needed is no more plastic bags.

Wildlife. NZ wildlife & the environment should matter.

To add. Encouraging kids to financially benefit from that which kills and pollutes sends the wrong message.

Charismatic

Couldn't you say that about many parties policies? Either way theirs is more of a struggle after the way they conducted their recent affairs turned voters off.

Look like team Jacinda (formerly known as Labour) now have a narrow lead in polling but the de facto outcome still sees ol' Winston Peters as having the deciding vote.

LoCarb

Pretty sure he will go with National

chocolate cake

Really? given the leaks of his pension over-payments almost certainly came from National hierarchy.

LoCarb

You are missing the point. They wouldn't be getting into the environment in the first place if they became a valuable resource.

People wouldn't throw them away if they knew they had a value.

Did you not collect milk bottle tops as a kid?
We always had a jam-jar in the kitchen where we kept them, and when it was full we we'd take them to school for fund raising.

There was a shop next to my father's one in London where it's sole trading business was rags, paper & cardboard. They were a valuable resource so people didn't throw them away.

So, turn them into a valuable resource, just like the Wombles of Wimbledon Common. "Make Good Use of Bad Rubbish"

LoCarb

National to set up new commission to handle public-private partnerships

"Infrastructure spokesman Steven Joyce said PPPs were an effective way of building long-lasting infrastructure more quickly, and using private capital to stretch the country's capital budget in order to build more."

Hogwash.

Primarily designed to privatise the public-good to the advantage of National's main beneficiary, i.e. the already wealthy investor.

More of those neoliberal lies that say government shouldn't be involved in the economy.

As if the government needs private capital when it issues the New Zealand dollar at virtually no cost to the country!

BEVS

I am not missing any point. Perhaps you are?

This is not then. This is now .
It won't work. It doesn't work. It hasn't been working.

No-one will reuse a dog poo plastic bag. Or a nappy plastic bag. Nor even a grocery bag once it becomes worn, torn , stretched .

In any case the aim is no more plastic bags. They are dangerous for our environment. For critters. For birds. For waterways. For a food chain.

So any organisation or political party advocating for getting rid of plastic bags is not being trivial in the face of prevailing socio-economic issues for people. They are highlighting a very serious and growing issue which really needs to be addressed.

Please have a read.

BEVS

I wondered that.

I thought I heard today that Labour+Green feel they will not need NZ First.

Charismatic

At this point it seems very early/close to currently be saying that.

LoCarb

Who is talking about reusing them (well apart from op-shops that are always on the lookout for plastic bags).

I'm talking about re-manufacturing plastic shopping bags, the vast majority of which are clean, and are not covered in dog or baby poo

Thanks for the link, I already know they are a problem in the environment, that's why they should be collected-up.

Yes, we can learn something from old dogs. The 70's were a great time for recycling, and it was successful. Schools collected cans. Boy Scouts had paper-drives. Rotary Clubs were always calling for scrap metal etc.etc.

You say it hasn't been working, well that's because they have no value atm, they are a throw-away item. So lets give them a value!


So........ now I am the government, and I will offer $10/kg for any clean plastic bags.

They will then be re-manufactured here:

Soft Plastics Recycling | Home

And if you aren't already recycling all your soft plastics at Countdown or wherever .............

garethwm

Maybe anyone overseas looking to immigrate to NZ in the future should keep at least one eye on the election as it may have an impact. One of Labours policies is to slash immigration by 40000 per year.

Charismatic

Latest polling:

Looks like Billy got the better of Jazzy in their first TV debate. It also seems Nationals plan to sink Winston by 'allegedly' (or so my solicitors have told me to say) organising a "leak", showing his snout was also buried in the trough, has worked as well.