Wouldn’t it be funny if the whole anti-plastic bag campaign was based on a furphy. What if that the supermarkets’ lightweight high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bags really aren’t much of a danger to shipping or wildlife after all?

It’s a serious allegation being made by NARGA – the National Association of Retail Grocers of Australia – but it’s one that doesn’t seem to be able to gain much traction against the orthodoxy of the anti-HDPE campaigners. A feature by NARGA CEO Ken Henrick in the AFR last week sank without trace when it deserves broader attention.

NARGA argues that HDPE bags have been turned into THE problem, instead of being kept in perspective as part of the litter problem – and a relatively minor part at that.

Henrick believes the core appeal of the anti-HDPE campaign is the publicity given to the claim that the bags pose a significant threat to marine animals, but says that claim has never been proven.

“The 100,000 marine animal deaths a year caused by plastic bags was attributed to a 1987 study in Newfoundland,” says Henrick. “In fact, the study was done near a number of seabird nesting sites (many, many, many birds) and found that up to 100,000 birds and animals might have been killed by fishing nets over a four year period. Plastic bags were not mentioned.”

The AFR feature criticises a report to the Federal Department of Environment and Heritage by consultants Nolan-ITU which cites the Newfoundland study and mistakenly blames plastic bags. Henrick told Crikey that after the AFR piece last week, the author of the Nolan-ITU study rang to say the statement was a “typo”. Says Henrick:

“In an email to me he said: ‘This minor error has only recently come to light with reference by the Productivity Commission to the report. As a result we have amended the report removing the reference to bags and have re-issued this to DEH.’

“When I asked for a copy of the revised report, he informed me that the revision was only one word: “plastic bags” had been amended to “debris”. That’s still wrong and not addressing the issue of the annual deaths estimate.

“Nolan-ITU also estimated in their 2002 study that 50-80 million lightweight HDPE bags are in the litter stream in Australia. There is zero evidence to support such figures. That would amount to an average of about ten bags littered by every household in Australia. In a high-rise, high density residential area there would be THOUSANDS of plastic bags in the litter stream. Seen those anywhere?”

There is more to the NARGA argument than space permits here. The concern is that the public may have been hijacked by a campaign that carries considerable expense (HDPE phase out could cost as much as $1.29 billion according to another bunch of consultants) but actually does little more than make the carriers of the soylent green recycled bags feel warm and fuzzy about saving the planet. It’s actually more complicated than that.