The New South Wales government has announced a new environmental initiative by seeking to ban single-use plastic bags, plastic straws and cotton buds over the next five years with a cost of $356 million.
“We want NSW to be a leader when it comes to reducing waste, maximising recycling and protecting our environment, but we want to do it in a way that drives job creation and innovation,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
The strategy is to entice businesses that rely on supplying disposable plastic products to industry to find greener alternatives. As a result, plastic products will eventually be phased by discovering alternative greener sources.
Solving a problem like this is the perfect opportunity for people to develop viable, greener solutions and creating new businesses.
Most people are used to using bamboo alternatives such as disposable cutlery, and transitioning from plastic shopping bags to bringing your own did not take the public too long to become the new norm.
“The single-use items we are phasing-out will stop an estimated 2.7 billion items of plastic litter from ending up in our environment and waterways over the next 20 years,” NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean said.
Apart from the waste single-use plastic creates, it is also extremely harmful to marine life.
Mr Kean said fish would be outnumbered by plastic debris by 2050 if nothing changes.
Further greening of NSW on the NSW governments agenda is to decrease food scraps from general household waste from other garbage. Something this writer is already doing with an Urban Compost Bin.
The NSW Government plan is to cut 10 per cent of waste per person by the year 20
There is never a better time to start reducing your waste than now.