CITY of Vincent Mayor Emma Cole has sent letters to two State Government Ministers urging them to support a statewide plastic bag ban.
The correspondence was sent on June 20, three weeks after the council resolved to support an in-principle ban on single use non-compostable plastic bags, to notify the Environment and Local Government Ministers of its position and to urge a statewide ban was passed unanimously.
Ms Cole attributed a delay in sending the letters to wanting to get the wording right.
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READ NOWShe said staff had the first pass at the draft before she finalised the letter.
“We do believe that the time is right for a statewide ban, with community support on the rise and other states and territories demonstrating that this can be achieved,” she wrote.
“A statewide ban would give retailers and shoppers a consistent legislative framework in which to operate, allow for a holistic education and awareness campaign, and provide a more cost and resource effective way to proceed than the creation of potentially dozens of local laws.”
Attached to the letter to Local Government Minister David Templman and Environment Minister Stephen Dawson was a hand-written note from a seven-year-old North Perth resident addressed to Ms Cole asking her to “please quit plastic bags”.
“Firstly, only 5 per cent of plastic bags are recycled. Secondly, plastic bags never break down and thirdly they are unhealthy for animals because they can swallow them. That’s why plastic bags are extremely unacceptable for our environment,” the seven-year-old resident wrote.
Ms Cole said she would wait for staff advice about the next step, but would pursue a local law change if council got “sick of waiting” for the State Government to make a decision on a statewide ban.
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