The Plastic Free Places program is now operating across all states and territories with the inclusion of our newest programs in NT and Tasmania.
This means we’ve been able to offer support to more businesses, guiding them on what alternatives and solutions are available as they switch away from single-use plastics.
And we've helped them eliminate over 17 million pieces of single-use plastic!
It’s been a challenging year - with plastic bans rolling out across Australia there has also been a rise in greenwashing within the packaging industry, which we’ve had to keep on top of. We have our very own Research Officer whose job it is to ensure our team is up-to-date on any new products and their certifications, to ensure we can advise our business members correctly.
Of course, reuse and avoidance are always at the top of our agenda, and we’ve made some great progress in that space this year with the expansion of our Reusable Champions program. Cairns, Central Queensland and WA have been leading the way in the reusables space and we look forward to seeing this expand to other jurisdictions next year. We’re also just finishing a pilot program called Reusable Hotels to be rolled out throughout Qld next year and our Reusable Offices program is also in development mode.
We’re particularly excited about working in offices as it's an opportunity to change office culture and establish new cultural norms by implementing proven behaviour change strategies. Our aim is to show that if a workplace (as a microcosm of the community) can change, then the community itself, with the right support, can also change. We want to demonstrate that a reuse culture is possible.
You can read more about our year and new programs in our 2022 Progress report.
What’s new in 2023
Our key focus in 2023 will be on implementing behaviour change strategies in our programs that increase the use of reusables and addressing other single-use plastic items still used. This includes:
- More cafes participating in our reusable champions program.
- Addressing back-of-house plastics with members through our new BOH champions program.
- Programs in new locations.
- Organics collections - working with local councils to expand organics collection services to include cafes.
- Government buildings and offices - working to avoid and reduce single-use plastics, increase reusables, and find resource recovery markets.
- A reusable hotels program - working with hotels to increase reusables in all areas.
- Reusable campaigns in controlled locations, including food courts, university campuses, and sports stadiums.
For more information on all our programs, visit www.plasticfreeplaces.org