The humble takeaway dinner will change forever from Wednesday as a ban on single-use plastic bags across New South Wales comes into effect.
The new laws bring NSW in line with all other states and territories in Australia, with similar policies in place to reduce plastic consumption.
Takeaway shops told Daily Mail Australia the change is sweet and sour, admitting it’s going to be ‘annoying’ even though they’re happy to support the major environmental reform.
From tomorrow local takeaway shops will need to switch to paper or biodegradable alternatives to plastic bags, and encourage customers to bring their own.
Steep fines of $250,000 are in place for businesses that fail to follow the rules and continue distributing plastic bags.
The change will also be followed by a raft of other bans on plastic items from November 1, including takeaway containers, cutlery, straws and stirrers.
PLASTIC ITEMS BANNED IN NSW
‘It’s good for the environment but it is going to be a little bit annoying for us,’ Yui, who works at the Japanese Noodle shop Gumshara in Sydney’s Haymarket said.
The staff member said her team are ‘not quite ready’ to make the switch and will need to spend some time figuring out what alternative bags they will hand out.
Fortunately for the restaurant, the ban on plastic containers at the end of the year will not include plastic bowls with spill-proof lids.
‘It is very annoying to change but we can do it differently,’ he said. ‘We have a supplier that makes plastic (style) bags out of corn. Much better for the environment.’
Meanwhile, May, who serves up freshly-made cream puffs at Chinatown’s famous Emperor’s Garden Restaurant said they would find a way to adjust if it helps keep plastics out of the ocean and landfill.
‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘We can follow the rules if it’s good for the environment’.
Supermarkets ditched single use plastic bags in 2018 but smaller businesses were not required by law to follow suit.
Minister for Environment James Griffin says now is the right to legislate the change, with the restriction set to prevent almost 2.7 billion items of plastic litter from entering the environment in NSW over the next 20 years.
‘Single-use plastic is used by many of us for just a few convenient minutes, but it remains in our environment for many years, eventually breaking into microplastics,’ he said.
‘By stopping the supply of problematic plastic in the first place, we’re helping prevent it from entering our environment as litter, or going into landfill.
‘We each have the power to make positive environmental change at an individual level, and I encourage everyone to choose to go plastic-free as often as they can.’
The National Retail Association is now working with the NSW government to ensure that more than 40,000 small businesses across the state can manage the changes.
‘Through the NRA, we’re running a retailer education campaign, conducting store visits, and providing online webinars and resources to help businesses make the adjustment away from single-use plastics,” Minister for Small Business Eleni Petinos said.
Source: Daily Mail
