Additional single-use plastic items are now banned in NSW, with Rumbalara Environmental Education Centre (EEC) happy to accept unused items such as plastic cutlery, straws, bowls, and cotton tips in original packaging for recycling.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch, said while plastic is a versatile and useful material, it is increasingly threatening our natural environment.
“Single-use plastic items, designed to be used once and then thrown away, are cheap and convenient, but they pose an enormous threat, with plastic packaging and single-use items making up 60 per cent of all litter in NSW,” Crouch said.
He said the latest ban would prevent nearly 2.7 billion plastic items from entering the coastal, marine and bushland environments of NSW over the next 20 years.
Lightweight plastic bags have been banned since June 1 and are now joined by plastic single-use cutlery, straws (exemption for individuals who need a plastic single-use straw due to a disability or other medical need), plates, bowls and expanded polystyrene bowls, expanded polystyrene foodware (including cups, clamshell containers and plates), plastic cotton buds and plastic microbeads in certain rinse off personal hygiene products.
“The legislation also provides a comprehensive framework that will help transition NSW towards a circular economy where materials and resources are valued and kept in the productive economy while creating jobs and protecting the environment and the community,” Crouch said.
Minister for Environment James Griffin said the latest bans are an important step in creating a more sustainable future for generations to come.
“We started this journey in 2020, when we received 16,000 submissions in response to the proposed plastics ban, with 98 per cent of them supporting the bans,” he said.
“NSW Parliament passed the Plastics Reduction and Circular Economy Act 2021 last year, and since then, we’ve been helping the community and businesses to prepare for these changes with extensive engagement, education and communication campaigns in multiple languages.
“The feedback is clear – the community is disturbed by the amount of single-use plastic entering our environment, so we’ve listened.”
The NSW Government has partnered with Great Plastic Rescue to collect excess stock from wholesalers, distributors, retailers, businesses and not-for-profits for recycling and remanufacturing into new items.
Ongoing education and support will continue to ensure businesses and consumers understand what’s banned and what’s not, including exemptions that allow the supply of some items for people with disabilities or for medical reasons.
For more information about the NSW Government’s single use plastic bans, visit http://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/plastics-ban.
Terry Collins