City disappointed by plastic bag decision

The City of Fremantle is disappointed its innovative local law designed to reduce plastic waste in Fremantle has been disallowed by the State Legislative Council overnight.

The City of Fremantle Plastic Bag Local Law 2012 - which was drafted by the City to lessen the impacts of non-biodegradable plastic bags on the environment and in landfill­ - was rejected by the Legislative Council based on a clause for retailers to charge a 10c minimum fee for a compliant biodegradable bag.

Fremantle Mayor, Dr Brad Pettitt said the result was disappointing but not entirely unexpected.

“We’re obviously feeling pretty deflated that the law didn’t get approved after a lot of hard work to get to this point. We had been previously informed that clause 6, which we added to help retailers more easily recoup costs, could be the sticking point and unfortunately it was."

“The City will now have to assess the options we have moving forward, including the potential to redraft and resubmit the local law to remove clause 6 altogether,” he said.” We will also be looking at other ways to reduce plastic waste in Fremantle which may include developing advocacy strategies with other local government organisations and implementing some voluntary community initiatives.”

Dr Pettitt said the decision would not just be a blow to Fremantle’s plastic free ambitions, but the ambitions of other local government authorities across Australia.

“I know for a fact that there are several local government authorities, both in Western Australia and in other parts of the country, who have been eagerly awaiting the outcome before they moved to implement similar laws. There has even been international interest in what we’re trying to achieve.

“It’s clearly a disappointing result, but the City is determined to rid Fremantle of plastic bags and will continue to work with local retailers and the local community to make this happen,” said Dr Pettitt.

For more information visit City of Fremantle