Paddy Pallin established the ‘Don’t Bag the Environment’ program in 1992 as a means by which we could make a positive contribution towards reducing unnecessary packaging from our stores. To encourage you to support our efforts, every time you decline to take a bag with your purchase, Paddy Pallin will donate 20 cents towards a project which helps to preserve Australia’s natural heritage. ‘Don’t Bag the Environment’ aims to:

• Reduce packaging waste, so that less rubbish finds its way into our bushland and waterways.
• Conserve energy resources which would otherwise be used in the manufacture of the bags.
• Reduce the use of landfill tips, thereby retaining land for native wildlife habitats.
• Support environmental projects by raising funds to assist them.
• All proceeds go directly to the nominated beneficiary, which is changed every six months.
• Naturally, you are welcome to make a personal donation as well in store or at www.paddypallinfoundation.org.au

Don't Bag the Environment September 2012 to September 2013

The Tarkine Wilderness 

Ancient, majestic, wild.

The Tarkine is an amazing wilderness of many faces. Located in north-west Tasmania, the diverse landscapes of the Tarkine contain the world’s second largest remaining temperate rainforest, broad vistas of mountain heathlands, and wild coastal landscapes where the mighty waves of the roaring 40’s meet the ancient coastline.

Within this wild place, are found over sixty rare threatened and endangered species ranging from the White Goshawk, the Giant Freshwater Crayfish, numerous wild orchids, and the last remaining disease free habitat for the iconic Tasmanian devil.

The Tarkine, named in honour of the Indigenous Tarkinner people, also contains some of Australia’s most significant Aboriginal heritage sites, with the hut depressions, shell middens and rock carvings telling the stories from the Tarkinner, Manegin and Peternidic tribes. It is a place with extraordinary cultural significance to the modern day Palawa people of Tasmania.

In recognition of these outstanding values, the Australian Heritage Council has twice recommended the Tarkine for National Heritage Listing and a recent government commissioned
report recommended that the Tarkine be nominated for World Heritage Listing.

But while governments delay, the Tarkine is under threat.

Ten new open cut mines are proposed for the Tarkine in the next five years. These Pilbara style mines will devastate the myrtle rainforest habitat through deforestation for mine pits, tailings dams and rock dumps. They will poison the Tarkine’s wild rivers with acid mine leaching and heavy metals runoff, and increase road traffic which will dramatically increase roadkill pressure on wildlife – particularly for already threatened scavenger species like the Wedge-tailed eagle and Tasmanian devil.

Your support can help us bring this threat to the attention of the Australian public. From September 2012 – September 2013 all funds collected from the Don’t Bag the Environment program will be donated to the Tarkine National Coalition to help protect the Tarkine Wilderness.

Don't Bag the Environment October 11 to March 12

Flatback Sea Turtle project

From October 2011 to March 2012 all funds collected from the Don’t Bag the Environment program will be donated to help protect the endangered Flatback Sea Turtle Natator depressus, Australia’s only endemic marine turtle.

Found in the Tropical Waters of Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland, the Flatback Sea Turtle feeds on squid, cuttlefish, sea cucumbers, jelly fish and other soft-bodied sea creatures. The shell is dark green to black in colour and is flatter than the shells of other marine turtles, giving the Flatback Sea Turtles their name. Adults and juveniles inhabit the inshore bays and reefs, seldom venturing beyond the continental shelf.

Females mature after some decades at sea and return to the region of their birth and crawl up the beach to breed. Southern populations breed in the summer months while those in northern Australia breed either all year or are confined to the cooler months of the year. Individual females lay up to five clutches of about 50 eggs in a season and may breed every one to three years. The eggs, buried in the sand for about 7 weeks, are warmed by the sun and hatch in the cool of the night. Night birds, crabs, feral foxes, cats and dogs feed on the hatchlings before they get to the sea where fish continue the predation. As few as one in two thousand survive to be adult.

In addition to natural threats to their survival, Flatback Sea Turtles are threatened by coastal development removing the stability of the beaches, the security of their food resources and the safe sanctuary in which they lay their eggs. For decades the tropical trawl fisheries caught, injured and killed sea turtles before Turtle Excluder Devices were adopted in 2001. The threats to Flatback Sea Turtles are increasing by sprawling sea-side development along the tropical coasts, building ports and wharfs, altering the sea floor by dredging channels and dumping the spoil, confusing hatchlings by lights near beaches, increasing vibrations from underwater noise, blasting, pile driving, boat traffic and recreational vehicles on beaches and disposing of plastic waste in and near the sea.

The Flatback Sea Turtle is found only in Australia, as Aussie as the koala, yet little is known of its life history and its requirements for survival. Our lack of understanding about marine turtles is the greatest threat to their survival. Funds from the Don’t Bag the Environment program will be used to create and distribute fact sheets to educate and raise awareness about this magnificent marine creature among school children, remote communities and the general public.