my name is Hayley McClellan and I am a
plastic shopping bag addict I have been
plastic shopping bag free for more than
ten years now and I feel amazing
I don’t feel inconvenienced or hard done
by or annoyed in fact I feel really
really empowered and every time I use
reusable shopping bags that reinforces
the behavior that I have chosen so in
2007 I decided that’s it there will be
no more plastic shopping bags in my life
I felt that the single use item
represented grossly unconscious behavior
on my part and I felt really
uncomfortable about that further to no
longer accepting plastic shopping bags
into my life this crazy idea to ban
plastic shopping bags fell out of
nowhere
and landed with me bull huh
now I had to do something about it so I
started telling everybody that I was
going to ban plastic shopping bags in
South Africa but I was like this lone
voice in the wilderness hello anybody
aren’t they think it’s a good idea to
ban plastic shopping bags
no no nothing coming back at me oh well
I decided to do it anyway and I
acknowledged that I would need some help
but I would do it no matter what so what
are the problems well South Africans use
about 8 billion plastic shopping bags
every single year and when I first came
across this figure I had to consider
well how many of those was I responsible
for and I’d like you to consider the
same thing how many of those are you
responsible for we use them for about 20
minutes that’s what the research tells
us now that should
be shocking to every single one of us
considering that plastic lasts forever
so eight billion plastic shopping bags
where does it all go well we throw them
away of course but where is this place
called away
is it landfill perhaps out of sight out
of mind
mmm a very irresponsible attitude to
have considering that every single piece
of plastic that has ever been made still
exists on this planet now I’m not
against plastic that would be silly
our overconsumption and hasty disposal
of single-use plastic is however a very
serious conversation that we need to be
having we also send about 96% of these
plastic shopping bags to the dump site
and we can only assume that is because
so many people use them as bin liners in
their kitchen and then we also burn
plastic and see atmosphere and then we
breathe in we inhale those plastic
toxins many of these 8 billion plastic
shopping bags end up in the ocean every
single year now to you and I that looks
like a plastic shopping bag but imagine
perhaps you were a turtle might that
perhaps look like a jellyfish which is
their main source of food you see
plastic will never biodegrade it doesn’t
break down into anything organic it
photo degrades that means the harsh rays
of the Sun and the mechanical motion of
the ocean it makes sure that big pieces
of plastic becomes small micro plastics
and these micro plastics get caught up
in the 5 gyres of the ocean the 5 ocean
currents that is the Indian Ocean gyre
the North and South Atlantic and the
North and South Pacific where they can
last for decades
in fact forever and this plastic soup is
made up of micro micro particles some of
you have may have heard of this already
in addition to historic and also modern
day 3
the endangered African penguin now has
to add plastic shopping bag entanglement
to its list of threats have you
rethought the plastic shopping bag yet
there is plastic in every single ocean
that has ever been researched for its
existence we are told that at the moment
as you sit here every single minute the
equivalent of one dump truck permanent
leaks into the ocean and that by the
year 2050 there will be more plastic in
the ocean by weight than fish have you
rethought the plastic shopping bag it
the earth is choking while retailers are
so afraid of inconveniencing their
customers by doing away with plastic
shopping bags in their retail outlets
have you rethought the plastic shopping
bag
[Music]
did see y’all how do you feel after
seeing that animals are dying while
gullible consumers continue to use
vulgar ly branded plastic shopping bags
day in and day out
thus corporates are very happy because
the moment you walk out of their door
it’s free advertising
are you rethinking the plastic shopping
there yet so wise plastic shopping bag
you still rising considering that we now
pay for them I want you to listen very
closely to what I have to say next this
is the money shot I already got that
in 2003 do you remember that government
implemented a charge on plastic shopping
bags and everybody had a fit for about
30 seconds and then we just got on with
our lives and we became numb to this
extra tax well plastic shopping bag use
did decrease but it has subsequently
increased to very high levels again so
it proved to us that charging people for
plastic shopping bags was not a big
enough disincentive to reduce plastic
shopping bag use in our country so there
was a company called Bowie bag which
means return your bag that was created
within government and Bowie bag was
charged or tasked rather with creating
buyback stations or recycling stations
creating awareness and education about
the litter situation in our country and
also most importantly to provide
employment very very important in South
Africa today and clean up the country so
they were tasked with managing just the
levy portion of the bag do you remember
it was like 22 cents when they first
started charging for bags in that was a
three cents levy it quickly went up to
four cents in six cents it’s currently
eight cents per bag so for every four
let’s put it this way for the eight
billion plastic shopping bags that are
affected in South Africa every year
times eight cents goes to the government
that’s an enormous amount of money and
that was to be used on the environment
right but in 2011 Bowie City bag was
disbanded for mismanagement of funds so
let me tell you well first of all if
they were disbanded in 2011 why are you
still paying for plastic shopping bags
nobody really thinks about that between
2004 and 2014 1.2 billion rand was
collected just from the levy portion
remember that’s an enormous amount of
money that could have been spent wisely
on the environment well a mere 200
million was spent on the working for
water program not even waste management
related and the government told me that
the 1 billion rand remaining they cannot
account for what no they don’t drink
finsihed it just goes into the big black
money pot called the Fiskars isn’t that
fraud that’s your money you should be
mad about this
you should be rioting protesting about
this so you’re not only wasting money by
buying plastic shopping bags you’re also
being lied to
so now have you rethought the plastic
shopping bag yet none of these brands
are recyclable despite the advertising
fees recycle me our world etc etc so
about one year ago it came to light that
the plastic bag manufacturers very slyly
began adding a calcium carbonate chalk
filler into the process of making
plastic shopping bags that made them
less expensive to make for the
manufacturers or many right for the
manufacturers this has now come to light
and I say no more false branding and no
more trashing our environment this is
the only plastic shopping bag in South
Africa that is currently made of 100%
post-consumer recycled and is 100%
recyclable I want to be very clear about
the rethink the bag campaigns objective
it is for a plastic shopping bag free
South Africa or to put it more crudely
to ban
six shopping bags in South Africa this
is an idea whose time has come
so it’s a call to action campaign it is
my greatest wish that every single one
of you here will no longer use plastic
shopping bags this is a choice you can
make right here right now it costs you
nothing at all if we continue to be a
throwaway society it is to our detriment
this is our life support system that
we’re speaking about our environment
hanley print prints lewis’s when
something that you you love so deeply is
being desperately threatened you need to
act solutions are right in front of us
every store to sabar that you’re going
to they have reusable shopping bags you
see we don’t need plastic shopping bags
to get our goods from the store to our
destination we just need a way to get
our goods home I’d like to see by show
of hands how many of you have reusable
long life forever bags just put your
hand up nice and high that’s great you
need to use them please they’re feeling
neglected
uh-huh and then a lot of people ask me
after the presentation so I like to
cover it but then hailey what am I going
to use in my bin in my kitchen the great
reveal so of course we should be
recycling everything plastic paper glass
tin can hands your your food scraps to
either your compost heap or if you don’t
have one your friends got one promise
and then you can use free newspaper free
newspaper to line your bin it works
we were householder for each week we
send out the shiny little bin to
landfill and we’re also making eco
bricks on the side so that’s even
minimizing more to landfill please do
not go out and buy new plastic bin
liners for your bin because I told you
please don’t use plastic shopping bags
that will
merely create and unattained the
consequence which we don’t want to do
alright now we will all remember that a
number of years ago there was a law
passed in South Africa that we could no
longer puff our cigarettes anywhere and
everywhere do you remember in an
airplane in a venue like this in the
supermarket in a hospital what
so they said that’s it you can only
smoke in designated areas and again it
was such resistance all restaurants are
going to lose money the economy is going
to fail we survived the process we
proved that we can survive change that
was the norm it was the norm to smoke
everywhere and it’s currently the norm
to use 8 billion plastic shopping bags
here in South Africa that is what we
need to shift so should we ban plastic
shopping bags I don’t know how you feel
about it but the campaign survey 2068
respondents in five different LSM spas
stores and the response was
overwhelmingly positive
74% were in favor and I have to share
this with you I’ve been at the Volvo
Ocean summit today fascinating the most
amazing moment for me was when there was
a speaker that stood up and spoke about
the V&A waterfront and stated that they
have committed to banning plastic
shopping bags across the entire VNA
shopping precinct
and that’s after a lot of work with the
campaign and finally they’re on board
it’s a very very very exciting time for
the campaign so if not like me you are
tired of seeing this then I challenge
you to commit to this no more plastic
shopping bag way of life it’s really
really easy I promise you you will feel
amazing because you will know that you
are making a difference I’m not special
I just had this feeling that I had to do
something about plastic shopping bags in
South Africa and I set off on that
journey and that one choice around this
one single use item has greatly enriched
my life experience in all possible ways
that I’d never ever imagined and the
bonus is I’m so sane very normal girl
standing here and you will be too I am
completely committed to this campaign
and seeing a plastic shopping bag
disappear from this country forever many
countries have done it we won’t be the
first there are many causes pick one
this is mine and I hope I’ve inspired
every single one of you to join me
[Applause]
you
plastic shopping bag addict I have been
plastic shopping bag free for more than
ten years now and I feel amazing
I don’t feel inconvenienced or hard done
by or annoyed in fact I feel really
really empowered and every time I use
reusable shopping bags that reinforces
the behavior that I have chosen so in
2007 I decided that’s it there will be
no more plastic shopping bags in my life
I felt that the single use item
represented grossly unconscious behavior
on my part and I felt really
uncomfortable about that further to no
longer accepting plastic shopping bags
into my life this crazy idea to ban
plastic shopping bags fell out of
nowhere
and landed with me bull huh
now I had to do something about it so I
started telling everybody that I was
going to ban plastic shopping bags in
South Africa but I was like this lone
voice in the wilderness hello anybody
aren’t they think it’s a good idea to
ban plastic shopping bags
no no nothing coming back at me oh well
I decided to do it anyway and I
acknowledged that I would need some help
but I would do it no matter what so what
are the problems well South Africans use
about 8 billion plastic shopping bags
every single year and when I first came
across this figure I had to consider
well how many of those was I responsible
for and I’d like you to consider the
same thing how many of those are you
responsible for we use them for about 20
minutes that’s what the research tells
us now that should
be shocking to every single one of us
considering that plastic lasts forever
so eight billion plastic shopping bags
where does it all go well we throw them
away of course but where is this place
called away
is it landfill perhaps out of sight out
of mind
mmm a very irresponsible attitude to
have considering that every single piece
of plastic that has ever been made still
exists on this planet now I’m not
against plastic that would be silly
our overconsumption and hasty disposal
of single-use plastic is however a very
serious conversation that we need to be
having we also send about 96% of these
plastic shopping bags to the dump site
and we can only assume that is because
so many people use them as bin liners in
their kitchen and then we also burn
plastic and see atmosphere and then we
breathe in we inhale those plastic
toxins many of these 8 billion plastic
shopping bags end up in the ocean every
single year now to you and I that looks
like a plastic shopping bag but imagine
perhaps you were a turtle might that
perhaps look like a jellyfish which is
their main source of food you see
plastic will never biodegrade it doesn’t
break down into anything organic it
photo degrades that means the harsh rays
of the Sun and the mechanical motion of
the ocean it makes sure that big pieces
of plastic becomes small micro plastics
and these micro plastics get caught up
in the 5 gyres of the ocean the 5 ocean
currents that is the Indian Ocean gyre
the North and South Atlantic and the
North and South Pacific where they can
last for decades
in fact forever and this plastic soup is
made up of micro micro particles some of
you have may have heard of this already
in addition to historic and also modern
day 3
the endangered African penguin now has
to add plastic shopping bag entanglement
to its list of threats have you
rethought the plastic shopping bag yet
there is plastic in every single ocean
that has ever been researched for its
existence we are told that at the moment
as you sit here every single minute the
equivalent of one dump truck permanent
leaks into the ocean and that by the
year 2050 there will be more plastic in
the ocean by weight than fish have you
rethought the plastic shopping bag it
the earth is choking while retailers are
so afraid of inconveniencing their
customers by doing away with plastic
shopping bags in their retail outlets
have you rethought the plastic shopping
bag
[Music]
did see y’all how do you feel after
seeing that animals are dying while
gullible consumers continue to use
vulgar ly branded plastic shopping bags
day in and day out
thus corporates are very happy because
the moment you walk out of their door
it’s free advertising
are you rethinking the plastic shopping
there yet so wise plastic shopping bag
you still rising considering that we now
pay for them I want you to listen very
closely to what I have to say next this
is the money shot I already got that
in 2003 do you remember that government
implemented a charge on plastic shopping
bags and everybody had a fit for about
30 seconds and then we just got on with
our lives and we became numb to this
extra tax well plastic shopping bag use
did decrease but it has subsequently
increased to very high levels again so
it proved to us that charging people for
plastic shopping bags was not a big
enough disincentive to reduce plastic
shopping bag use in our country so there
was a company called Bowie bag which
means return your bag that was created
within government and Bowie bag was
charged or tasked rather with creating
buyback stations or recycling stations
creating awareness and education about
the litter situation in our country and
also most importantly to provide
employment very very important in South
Africa today and clean up the country so
they were tasked with managing just the
levy portion of the bag do you remember
it was like 22 cents when they first
started charging for bags in that was a
three cents levy it quickly went up to
four cents in six cents it’s currently
eight cents per bag so for every four
let’s put it this way for the eight
billion plastic shopping bags that are
affected in South Africa every year
times eight cents goes to the government
that’s an enormous amount of money and
that was to be used on the environment
right but in 2011 Bowie City bag was
disbanded for mismanagement of funds so
let me tell you well first of all if
they were disbanded in 2011 why are you
still paying for plastic shopping bags
nobody really thinks about that between
2004 and 2014 1.2 billion rand was
collected just from the levy portion
remember that’s an enormous amount of
money that could have been spent wisely
on the environment well a mere 200
million was spent on the working for
water program not even waste management
related and the government told me that
the 1 billion rand remaining they cannot
account for what no they don’t drink
finsihed it just goes into the big black
money pot called the Fiskars isn’t that
fraud that’s your money you should be
mad about this
you should be rioting protesting about
this so you’re not only wasting money by
buying plastic shopping bags you’re also
being lied to
so now have you rethought the plastic
shopping bag yet none of these brands
are recyclable despite the advertising
fees recycle me our world etc etc so
about one year ago it came to light that
the plastic bag manufacturers very slyly
began adding a calcium carbonate chalk
filler into the process of making
plastic shopping bags that made them
less expensive to make for the
manufacturers or many right for the
manufacturers this has now come to light
and I say no more false branding and no
more trashing our environment this is
the only plastic shopping bag in South
Africa that is currently made of 100%
post-consumer recycled and is 100%
recyclable I want to be very clear about
the rethink the bag campaigns objective
it is for a plastic shopping bag free
South Africa or to put it more crudely
to ban
six shopping bags in South Africa this
is an idea whose time has come
so it’s a call to action campaign it is
my greatest wish that every single one
of you here will no longer use plastic
shopping bags this is a choice you can
make right here right now it costs you
nothing at all if we continue to be a
throwaway society it is to our detriment
this is our life support system that
we’re speaking about our environment
hanley print prints lewis’s when
something that you you love so deeply is
being desperately threatened you need to
act solutions are right in front of us
every store to sabar that you’re going
to they have reusable shopping bags you
see we don’t need plastic shopping bags
to get our goods from the store to our
destination we just need a way to get
our goods home I’d like to see by show
of hands how many of you have reusable
long life forever bags just put your
hand up nice and high that’s great you
need to use them please they’re feeling
neglected
uh-huh and then a lot of people ask me
after the presentation so I like to
cover it but then hailey what am I going
to use in my bin in my kitchen the great
reveal so of course we should be
recycling everything plastic paper glass
tin can hands your your food scraps to
either your compost heap or if you don’t
have one your friends got one promise
and then you can use free newspaper free
newspaper to line your bin it works
we were householder for each week we
send out the shiny little bin to
landfill and we’re also making eco
bricks on the side so that’s even
minimizing more to landfill please do
not go out and buy new plastic bin
liners for your bin because I told you
please don’t use plastic shopping bags
that will
merely create and unattained the
consequence which we don’t want to do
alright now we will all remember that a
number of years ago there was a law
passed in South Africa that we could no
longer puff our cigarettes anywhere and
everywhere do you remember in an
airplane in a venue like this in the
supermarket in a hospital what
so they said that’s it you can only
smoke in designated areas and again it
was such resistance all restaurants are
going to lose money the economy is going
to fail we survived the process we
proved that we can survive change that
was the norm it was the norm to smoke
everywhere and it’s currently the norm
to use 8 billion plastic shopping bags
here in South Africa that is what we
need to shift so should we ban plastic
shopping bags I don’t know how you feel
about it but the campaign survey 2068
respondents in five different LSM spas
stores and the response was
overwhelmingly positive
74% were in favor and I have to share
this with you I’ve been at the Volvo
Ocean summit today fascinating the most
amazing moment for me was when there was
a speaker that stood up and spoke about
the V&A waterfront and stated that they
have committed to banning plastic
shopping bags across the entire VNA
shopping precinct
and that’s after a lot of work with the
campaign and finally they’re on board
it’s a very very very exciting time for
the campaign so if not like me you are
tired of seeing this then I challenge
you to commit to this no more plastic
shopping bag way of life it’s really
really easy I promise you you will feel
amazing because you will know that you
are making a difference I’m not special
I just had this feeling that I had to do
something about plastic shopping bags in
South Africa and I set off on that
journey and that one choice around this
one single use item has greatly enriched
my life experience in all possible ways
that I’d never ever imagined and the
bonus is I’m so sane very normal girl
standing here and you will be too I am
completely committed to this campaign
and seeing a plastic shopping bag
disappear from this country forever many
countries have done it we won’t be the
first there are many causes pick one
this is mine and I hope I’ve inspired
every single one of you to join me
[Applause]
you
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