Christchurch City Council is being urged to ban single-use plastic bags.
It has today been presented with a 1300-strong petition asking for a city-wide ban on plastic bags, starting with the soon-to-be-opened retail precinct in the CBD.
One of those behind the push, Megan Blakie, asked a full meeting of the council to push for Christchurch to become the first plastic bag free city in the country.
She said not doing this would continue to place a burden on the city's flora and fauna.
Pauline Baillie hands out reusable bags to Christchurch city councillors in support of city wide ban on plastic bags. Photo: RNZ / Conan Young
"At the recent mother of all clean-ups, which involved scooping out layers of plastic bags in the estuary mud, there was just too much plastic to collect and we had to leave plenty of it behind."
The council said it would explore her idea further.