Victorian single use plastic ban enforced from February 1 fines for selling supplying distributing

Construction could be the next industry to face plastic regulations in Victoria, as a single-use item ban comes into effect in hospitality and retail.

The supply or sale of single-use straws, drink stirrers, cutlery, plates and cotton swabs will be illegal from Wednesday.

Businesses caught using those items can be fined $1,849 and individuals face a $370 fine; however, the government says that only those who repeatedly break the rules will be penalized.

The maximum fine a business could face is $54,000, but it would only be issued in exceptional circumstances, such as if a business knowingly sold single-use plastics but passed them off as reusable items.

The ban comes into effect after the collapse of the REDcycle soft plastic recycling program, which caused millions of plastic bags to be stored in warehouses instead of being recycled.

Environment Minister Ingrid Stitt did not commit to ban single-use packaging such as plastic wrap on fresh fruit and vegetables, but said the government was exploring how to reduce the amount of soft plastics in the food industry. the construction.

An estimated 2.7 million disposable or single-use coffee cups are thrown away every day in Australia, according to Sustainability Victoria, but they are not included in the ban and neither are standard plastic takeaway containers.

Ms. Stitt said that they would not be banned unless appropriate alternatives were available.

“We don’t want to have a situation where we create unintended consequences by introducing bans faster than we have been able to develop solutions,” he told reporters in Fitzroy on Friday.

Individuals could face a maximum fine of $11,000 for the continued distribution, sale, or supply of prohibited products, such as plastic cutlery (file image), while businesses could be fined $55,000.

Free to Feed kitchen manager Helen Addison told reporters that the transition to sustainable items had not increased costs for the social enterprise, but was an ongoing process for customers and staff.

Several Melbourne cafe owners who wished to remain anonymous told the AAP that they could no longer obtain plastic items through vendors.

They said sustainable items could be more expensive and many paper straws on the market tended to collapse easily.

Shadow environment minister James Newbury said he was concerned about how the ban would be implemented constructively.

The changes were announced in 2021 and are part of a broader strategy to reduce landfills by 80% by 2030.

Single-use plastic items make up about a third of Victoria’s trash.

Single-use plastics make up around a third of all Victoria’s litter on streets and waterways (pictured) and are a key part of the state’s goal to divert 80 per cent of rubbish from landfill.