2005

Ben Kearney

Tasmanian of the Year 2005

Ben Kearney

Coles Bay's Ben Kearney is the 2005 Tasmanian of the Year for his huge individual campaign to improve and protect his environment by ridding it of plastic bags.

Ben's efforts not only put Coles Bay on the international map as the first place in Australia to ban plastic bags, he started a national public awareness campaign about the harmful environmental effects of plastic bags so that Ben's influence can be seen in shops and supermarkets in cities and country towns across the nation.

He led his own community campaign in 2003 which saw all retail outlets, at Coles Bay, including the two supermarkets, ban plastic check-out shopping bags. In the first 12 months, Ben and his committee were responsible for stopping the use of 350,000 plastic check-out bags. Ben Kearney has inspired people across Australia and around the world by creating and coordinating Coles Bay Australia's first plastic bag free town.