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INDUSTRY NEWS
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Single-Use Plastic item bans around Australia With the fast-growing movement of Australians advocating to “save our planet”, states and territories are initiating bans on single-use plastic items that ultimately finish up in landfill, favouring recyclable alternatives. MGA is a member of most single-use plastic working groups around Australia. Queensland
designed to be used only once—and then thrown away.
SINGLE-USE PLASTIC ITEM BAN Commencing 1 September 2021 - the single-use plastic items ban commences in Queensland. MGA has been a member of the Queensland Government’s Single-use Plastic Items Ban Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG). The Queensland Government is taking action to fight plastic waste and pollution, starting with a ban on some single-use plastic items. MGA members are advised that Single-use plastic items included in the ban arestraws - regular straws, flexible straws, straws with a scoop, cocktail straws and bubble tea straws, stirrers - hot or cold drink stirrers, swizzle sticks and hot or cold food stirrers, plates and bowls including single-use expanded polystyrene plates, cutlery - knives, forks, spoons, teaspoons, sample tasting spoons, soup spoons, chopsticks, splayds and sporks and expanded polystyrene takeaway food containers and cups. All members in Queensland consulted about this single-use plastic item ban have been 100% supportive of this initiative and have already begun sourcing alternative hard cardboard and wooden (bamboo) replacements. Half of all plastic produced in the world is
This is a massive contributor to the 300 million tonnes of plastic waste created every year, almost equivalent to the weight of the entire human population.
Australian Capital Territory BANNING OF SINGLE-USE PLASTIC ITEMS Members are informed that as of 1 July 2021, the ACT Government has legislated to ban the stocking and selling of single-use plastic items such as cutlery, single-use plastic drink stirrers (including bioplastics) and expanded polystyrene takeaway food and drink containers.
Many ACT MGA members favour this initiative and see this as a contribution toward reducing waste going into landfill and littering. Members have already begun to replace single-use plastic items with wooden and hardboard alternatives. For more information on the ACT’s ban on selected single-use plastics and for a range of resources to help businesses make the switch, visit: www.act.gov.au/ single-use-plastics.
Western Australia FUTURE BANNING OF SINGLEUSE PLASTIC ITEMS
We’re working hard to clean up our city by reducing single-use plastics
STAGE 1 BAN from 1 July 2021 Single-use plastic cutlery, single-use plastic drink stirrers and expanded polystyrene takeaway food and beverage containers are prohibited from sale, supply and distribution in the ACT from 1 July 2021. Keep Canberra beautiful and back the ban on single-use plastics.
www.act.gov.au/single-use-plastics
mga.asn.au | July - August 2021 | Edition 4
There will be a 12-month transition period as the ACT Government recognises the additional adjustment period required by businesses to transition to alternative materials.
MGA is a member of the WA Plastic Straws / Single-Use Plastic Working Group. A consultation group is advising the WA Government on the best strategy for businesses (supermarkets) to transition from single-use plastic items such as stirring spoons, cutlery, plates, bowls, cups, polystyrene items and straws to hard cardboard and wooden alternatives. Meetings have been scheduled for July. MGA will keep members informed after each meeting.
