Stop it and swap it

November 1 has come and gone now, so it’s time to understand your alternatives to single-use plastic items, including:

• straws, stirrers, cutlery, plates, bowls and cotton buds
• expanded polystyrene food ware and cups
• rinse-off personal care products containing plastic microbeads.
• This follows a ban on lightweight plastic bags in June this year.

The “Guide for Businesses” is a good place to start, you will find links to this guide along with “Guidance for industry” and a “Factsheet to help identify banned plastic items”.

These bans are a big win for our environment and it’s everyone’s responsibility to ‘Stop it and Swap it’.

Single-use plastic items and packaging make up 60% of all litter in NSW. By ending the use of many single-use items we’ll stop an estimated 2.7 billion plastic items from polluting our lands and waterways over the next 20 years.

For more ideas, resources and tips on how to prepare for the ban, visit nswplasticsban.com.au, or the NSW EPA website with resources here and FAQs here. Businesses needing to register their stock of banned items and do so here. For further enquiries about the plastics ban, you can contact the EPA at plastics@epa.nsw.gov.au

Thank you to Angela Frimberger, board member and owner of Facade Escape Room.