In a seriously short sighted move, the NSW Environment Protection Authority has breached the Parliament’s ban on plastic bowls and plates, by exempting such disposable products that are plastic lined.

July 1, 2022, marks the first day the ban on certain polluting single use plastics in Western Australia is implemented. It means that heavyweight plastics bags, polystyrene food ware, plastic cutlery, straws, cups, plates, and bowls are no longer able to be supplied in the State.

Today’s announcement by the ACT government that all oxodegradable plastics which have been polluting the environment for many years are now banned, was welcomed today by the Boomerang Alliance.

The decision by the Queensland Government to ban all disposable plastic shopping bags steps up the attack on polluting single use plastic items, with the plan to introduce a Reusable Shopping Bag Standard to ensure all shopping bags available from retailers will be genuinely reusable in the future. Disposable coffee cups are now also centre of the agenda.

Do you still use the hard copy of the Yellow Pages?

The majority of Australians use the internet to find the contact details of local businesses which is why Bunbury resident Meghan was so upset to find a huge pile of Yellow Pages books "dumped" on her residential street. 

Read more on ABC Perth website

Director of Boomerang Alliance, Jeff Angel had a conversation with Scott Levi from ABC Central Coast Breakfast about the need for reusable shopping bags national standard.

In the last two weeks both Coles and Woolworths have made announcements on future plans for heavyweight (approx. 55mcn) 15 cent plastic bags – which they have been claiming are reusable. Both bags have a high percent of recycled content. Over the last two years their positions on the bags have varied (we will ban; we won’t ban).

At the same time Boomerang has been pointing out that the bags were not reusable as they had not been tested against a credible benchmark, such as the Californian SB270 code. It requires a bag must be able to carry 10kg with 15litre volume capacity, over 50 metres, at least 125 times and be recyclable at end of use. The vast majority of the big supermarkets’ thicker bags were only used once or twice ending up as litter or in landfill.

Now at least there has been a partial breakthrough with Woolworths abandoning their heavyweight bags over the next 12 months, in favour of a range of options that include paper (single use), fabric and more durable plastic bags. However Coles will continue with the slightly thicker bag largely made using recycled and marine waste plastics. The Coles position is surprising given that some states are now moving to ban these heavyweight bags (WA is first off in July 2022).

Both are missing the opportunity to offer their customers a permanent solution, a solution that will meet customer needs and significantly reduce plastic waste and litter. That is the genuinely reusable shopping bag, rather than a single or very limited use bag made of any material including paper. From what the supermarkets are telling us between 70-80% of their customers already bring their own shopping bags. By only providing genuinely reusable bags in the future, that number should go well above 95% as consumers who ‘’forget’’ their reusable bag or shop on the spur of the moment adopt new behaviours (eg, always have access to a compact alternative foldable bag).

The Boomerang Alliance has put forward a proposal for a national Reusable Shopping Bag Standard, like the Californian code to stop the greenwash about reusability. Such bags should retail at a minimum $2, a price that will incentivise their continued reuse as a shopping bag. Both supermarkets potentially already carry such bags (eg ‘bag for good’) – subject to credible and transparent testing (as the Californian rule prescribes).

We have urged every State and Territory Government to regulate this issue as a national standard and adopt as soon as possible, and certainly by 2024.

Jeff Angel's interview with Hilary Harper from Life Matters, ABC RN

The Boomerang Alliance has welcomed today’s announcement by Woolworths that they will phase-out their 15 cent heavyweight plastic bags within 12 months. These slightly thicker bags remain a waste and litter problem, and are unnecessary in Australia.

In the five years since its inception, the Plastic Free Places (PFP) program, run by the Boomerang Alliance, has eliminated, or removed over 12.5 million single use takeaway plastic items from use. That includes plastic straws, cutlery, coffee cups, lids, water bottles and plastic containers.

Interested food outlets are inducted into the PFP network and shown how to avoid, reuse or switch to non-plastic or certified compostable packaging (Aust Standards). There are over 900 food businesses now participating.

The program has been an astounding success and shows that given the right advice and support the hospitality sector can easily switch away from using problematic takeaway plastics.

It demonstrates that the bans being introduced on these products throughout Australia are realistic and achievable, as long as the hospitality sector is given the opportunity to switch, and misleading information (greenwash) is not circulated.

By reducing single use plastic, we reduce the flow of dangerous plastic pollution into our waterways and ocean, and waste into landfill. The program aligns environment protection that consumers and businesses want with acceptable alternative products and practices like avoidance and reuse; and the increasing moves to ban single use plastic items.

The PFP program employs an expert coordinator in each location to work directly with cafes, other food outlets and public events to provide best practice advice on packaging alternatives.

Plastic Free Place locations

Data has been taken from 12 Plastic Free Places including Noosa, Cairns & Douglas, Townsville, Rockhampton, and Livingstone (QLD) Byron Shire, Randwick (NSW), Mt Martha, Elsternwick, Moreland (Vic), Adelaide & Port Lincoln (SA), Perth (WA). Our Darwin (NT) and Hobart surrounds (Tas) programs have only recently launched, so their data is not yet included.

Background Information about Plastic Free Places: www.plasticfreeplaces.org

The Boomerang Alliance of 55 environment NGOs welcomes the appointment of Tanya Plibersek, as Australia’s Environment Minister and urges quick action on implementing key recycling and plastic pollution policies.

Coles Supermarkets in their recent announcement about using marine plastic waste in plastic bags are undermining their own Together to Zero Waste strategy by failing to meet genuine standards for reusability.

Jeff Angel speaking to Melinda James from ABC Breakfast about NSW plastic bag ban.

Zero Waste NZ say it well in 2.20mins. We are seeing the same industry push in Australia. For more information, visit Zero Waste Network website.

The next State to introduce a single use plastics phase out is Victoria, scheduled for February 2023.

National plastic reduction, recycling, and reuse targets for 2025 will not be met unless the next Commonwealth Government acts to ensure their delivery.

The Victorian Government proposes to ban the above items in February 2023. These bans go some way towards Victoria catching up with South Australia, Queensland, the ACT, Western Australia, and New South Wales who have either already introduced or plan to introduce bans before the end of 2022.

These proposed bans are welcomed. All of these products could be avoided or have reusable or non-plastic alternatives currently available. However more can be done.

We encourage all our allied and associated organisations, supporters, and all who are concerned about the amount of single use plastic used, littered or wasted, to have their say.

The Boomerang Alliance view is below, and you are welcome to use these five comments in your submission:

1. I/We support these proposed bans for February 2023.
   
   
2. I/We oppose exemptions that allow banned items (such as plastic straws and cutlery) in pre-packaged products until 2025. Suppliers have had time to remove these items in other States, so do not need more time for this in Victoria.
   
   
3. I/We oppose the exemption for plastic lined party plates. There are plain plates available and if consumers want coloured or branded plates they can purchase reusable ones instead.
   
   
4. The Victorian Government encourages reusable food ware but does not offer any incentives for suppliers and consumers to shift their practices. The Government should provide retailers and takeaway food outlets with incentives to provide reusable containers to their customers.
   
   
5. These bans are a first step. There should be further bans on other problem single use plastics such as coffee cups/lids, drink and food containers, heavyweight plastic bags, and unnecessary plastic packing on retail products. A ban on the release of helium balloons should be included.

You can Have Your Say by providing a submission by 15 May 2022 to [email protected]

or answering the on-line survey on https://engage.vic.gov.au/SUP-ban-regulations

The release of the Northern Territory Circular Economy Strategy is a welcome step up, to grow recycling and curb plastic pollution.

The Territory’s management of waste and recycling has been pretty abysmal to date and the new Strategy should set it along the path to significant improvement, although Boomerang Alliance would like the government to move faster on the single use plastic bans.

Given other states are successfully transitioning to avoidance and non-plastic alternatives on quicker timeframes and business is adjusting well, the NT should set a date of mid-2023 for the ban on plastic - heavyweight bags, straws, cutlery, EPS food containers, plates and bowls to take effect. The ban on release of helium balloons is a great move putting the Territory near the top of such state actions.

There’s a lot of work on the new regulatory regime needed as circular economy principles and processes will require effective implementation. Boomerang Alliance is pleased that the Strategy also commits to targets for recycled content in buildings and civil construction.

On the face of it some good news from Coke but we have heard such good things before. We are keeping a sceptical eye on this and will believe it when we see it. One thing the company could do is to set up reusable container collection arrangements through the container refund schemes in Australia right now.

Did you know?

As part of our Plastic Free Places program. We encourage member cafes to make reusables a core part of their customer service. This includes becoming part of a reusable cup network such as Green Caffeen. Our BYO cups promotion in 2021 led to some astonishing results with some participating cafes happily reporting that many more of their customers brought their own coffee cups than they anticipated.

Plastic Wrapping on fresh produce encourages food waste

An 18-month study by UK sustainability charity WRAP has found that plastic wrapping around many fresh fruits and vegetables does not prolong shelf life. The study examined five items commonly wrapped in plastic that included bananas, broccoli, cucumber, and potatoes. The study also concluded that using plastic wrapping also had the effect of increasing food waste.

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