Opinion: Why the plastic bag ban is problematic

New Zealand's plastic bag ban comes into effect today and I've got mixed feelings about it.

On one hand, plastic bags are an absolute blight on the environment. They're a danger to marine life and can take up to 1000 years to break down.

I'm also happy the ban includes compostable and biodegradable bags. While they sound like an improvement, they need really specific conditions to disintegrate and right now New Zealand doesn't have the capability for that.

Don't get me wrong, the plastic bag ban is good step. In fact it is such a no-brainer that all major supermarkets made the move of their own accord.

But it's just the beginning and it needs to be seen that way. Plastic bags are a small part of a much wider problem about how the waste we create impacts the environment.

New Zealand prides itself on being clean and green, but we're actually one of the highest generators of household waste in the OECD. One person will send an average of 730 kilograms to landfill every year.

And as a consumer it's almost impossible to avoid waste.

For the last six months I have been trying to go towards being waste free. It's slow and it's a really hard process.

I have had to cut out some fruit and vegetables (like berries, cherry tomatoes and telegraph cucumbers) from my shopping because it's impossible to buy them without plastic.

So while New Zealanders will now take their grocery shops home in reusable bags, much of that same shop will end up in landfill.

Yes, you can recycle the packaging but it's an 'ambulance at the bottom of a cliff' solution. For a variety of reasons, much of what we recycle ends up in landfill anyway.

New Zealanders are not great recyclers. We either don't wash what we’re trying to recycle or we try to recycle things we can't. Many councils have stopped taking lower grade plastics since China stopped accepting it last year. On top of that, we don't have great onshore recycling facilities just yet.

The more logical solution is having recycling as a last resort, and making it easier for people not to create waste in the first place.

That's where a ban on single-use plastic comes in. Recently, Canada and the European Union have announced bans on items including plastic straws, drink bottles and cotton bud sticks.

Some of the bans announced are pretty limited but it's a good start.

It also needs to be easier for people to pick waste-free alternatives. Consumers are increasingly aware of the impact they're having on the environment but are mostly not given any alternatives.

So while the plastic bag ban is a step, it falls far short of being a meaningful solution.

Jessica Roden is the 1 NEWS politics producer, the author of waste-free blog Get Naked and a recent waste free advocate.