Banning plastic bags wouldn’t be sensible policy (see my earlier post Should Queensland ban plastic shopping bags?), and the Federal Government appears to realise this, but still environmental groups persist in pushing for a ban. As reported in today’s Sydney Morning Herald (Cutting plastics no longer in bag):

PLASTIC bag use is again on the rise and green campaigners are pushing for a national ban.

In 2008, then environment minister Peter Garrett pledged to phase out the bags by the end of that year. However, The Sun-Herald can reveal that, since then, the federal government has stopped tallying the number of plastic bags used.

Environmental groups claim that supermarkets have told them that the number of bags they are distributing has increased, suggesting that earlier initiatives to cut their use are no longer effective.