Single-use plastic items including straws, cutlery and plates will be banned in Victoria in a bid to reduce the amount of plastic waste going into landfill.Other items to be phased out over the next two years include drink stirrers, polystyrene food and drink containers and cotton buds.
Lily D’Ambrosio, Victoria’s minister for energy, environment and climate change, in Station Street, Fairfield on Saturday.
“Our announcement will go to the very heart of taking action to reduce the amount of single-use plastics we have in our environment.”
D’Ambrosio said single-use plastic items also made up one third of the state’s litter and Victoria could do better.“We know that single-use plastics can have devastating impacts on our wildlife, our marine life and our aquatic life,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.
“Our announcement will go to the very heart of taking action to reduce the amount of single-use plastics we have in our environment.”
The government will spend the next two years deciding on the alternatives businesses can use and whether replacement items will need to be fully biodegradable or recyclable.
Ms D’Ambrosio said hospitality businesses would be encouraged to transition to “viable alternatives” but was unable to say what kind of financial assistance would be available to the hospitality sector to help cover the cost.
Supermarket giant Coles is removing plastic cutlery, plates and cups from its shelves three years after banning single use plastic bags in response to overwhelming customer feedback.
Business owner Amanda Beloe, who runs plant-based cafe Mamma Says in Fairfield, said the cost of transitioning to plastic-free alternatives would be felt by her business but said there was a cost to the future in not acting immediately.
“We are not yet a plastic-free venue. However, it is one of our main goals to become that over the next 12 months,” she said.
“We see already the damage that it creates in our wildlife, and our streets and our future … we want to stop it now.”
Ms Beloe said her business had already been approached by plastic-free manufacturers and said the cafe would be willing to switch to fully sustainable packaging if the price was right.
The state government hopes the two-year timeline to phase out select plastic items would encourage manufacturers to offer more plastic-free options.
Ms D’Ambrosio said some form of assistance would be available for the hospitality sector but refused to say whether financial support would be offered to restaurants and cafes forced to phase out cheaper plastic products.
“We will work with industry through this period to assist with the transition,” she said.
“I am not hear to make any announcements today on that front but, as I have said we are 100 per cent committed to working with those businesses, listening and making it as easy as possible to transition,” she said.
She was also unable to confirm whether her Department had modelled the impact on small businesses such as cafes and take away restaurants caught up in the ban but said the government had consulted extensively.
She said businesses that go plastic-free can use it as a “selling point”.
The state government is yet to decided what penalties will apply or how the ban will be enforced.
“The transition process will include full consultation about how do we make sure we make sure these items cease to be supplied and sold in Victoria,” she said.
“At some point we will be looking at how we give effect to this ban.”
The government will work with the aged care and disability sectors to make sure there are exemptions for residents who require some single-use plastics such as straws.
All Victorian government departments and agencies will stop using the banned items a year ahead of the state-wide ban.
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