Victoria and SA to ban single-use tableware.

 

Supermarket giant Coles will stop selling single-use plastic cutlery and tableware from July in a bid to cut waste.

 

The move, predicted to remove 1.5 million kilograms of single-use plastic from landfill every year, follows decisions by the Victorian and South Australian governments to phase out the sale of these types of products.

 

Other states are expected to implement similar bans later this year.

 

Like similar actions taking place across the EU, the ban will include plastic straws, cutlery, plates, drink stirrers, polystyrene food and drink containers, and plastic cotton bud sticks.

 

It will not impact on medical or scientific equipment, emergency services or other activities that require these types of plastics for health and safety reasons.

 

Clean Up Australia chairman Pip Kiernan said single-use plastic tableware was a big problem for the environment.

 

“Too many of these items end up in our parks, waterways, beaches and roadsides and, if left there, damage our precious environment for hundreds of years, outliving all of us.”

 

“We applaud Coles for listening to their customers and taking the lead in replacing these single-use plastic items, ” she said.

 

Victoria’s Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said : “The government will consult businesses and the community further with public consultation occurring throughout 2021 as part of a formal regulatory impact statement process.”

 

South Australia’s Environment Minister David Speirs said: “We are the first state in the country to take this action and from 1 March plastic drinking straws, cutlery and stirrers will be banned from sale, supply and distribution in South Australia.

 

“By being a first mover nationally we’ve already seen businesses who manufacture re-usable and compostable alternatives start to set up in South Australia,” he said. “Our single-use plastic ban will have significant economic benefits and create local jobs, as well as being good for the environment.”