SINGLE-USE
PLASTICS
604. Mr D.R. MICHAEL to the Minister for Environment:
I
refer to the McGowan Labor government's nation-leading response in
reducing single-use plastics in our community.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the progress of stage 1 of WA's Plan for
Plastics, including the ban on single-use plastic cups, and outline the next
step to implementing stage 2 of the plan?
(2) Can the minister advise the
house what impact this will have on our environment?
Mr R.R.
WHITBY replied:
(1)–(2) I
am delighted to respond to that very good question from the member for
Balcatta. I want to mention the member's great advocacy for reducing
waste in Western Australia, particularly his interest in reducing plastic
waste.
As we all know, Western Australians
are currently engaged in a transition, which is world leading and certainly Australian leading in terms of our
transition away from many single-use plastic items. We use about 1.6 billion
single-use plastic items every year. That takes an enormous toll on the
environment. We know that plastic persists in the environment for many years;
it breaks down and gets into the food chain. It is something we need to address
urgently. Western Australia is leading the way. Stage 1 began on 1 January this
year, and it is fully implemented. It involved the transition out of single-use
plastic plates, cups for cold beverages, takeaway food containers and bowls
without lids, cutlery, drink stirrers, straws, thick plastic shopping bags,
expanded polystyrene takeaway food containers and helium balloon releases. This
transition has been delivered in mind that we are impacting on retailers and
their stocks. We work very closely with the National Retail Association. More
than 10 000 businesses are being provided with free assistance in auditing and
being able to stock and supply new materials that replace single-use plastic
items.
The
Department of Water and Environmental Regulation's approach to this has
always been about education first rather than hard compliance. We want
to help business through this transition. I think it has been very successful.
The Boomerang Alliance has also been involved in delivering the WA plastic-free
places program. What we are finding is that often consumers and retailers are
ahead of us. They are very keen to take on the new transition items. There is a
real hunger and eagerness to embrace these changes. These changes have huge
support across the Western Australian community and there are some ingenious
ways that some companies are engaging, such as using keep cups and share cups,
to reduce the reliance on single-use items.
We are now engaged in designing stage
2, which will start from next year. It targets barrier and produce bags for
fruit and vegetables in supermarkets; microbeads in cosmetics; polystyrene
packaging and cups; coffee cups and lids,
and I will come back to that; cotton buds with plastic shafts; takeaway food
containers and bowls; and degradable plastics. Like many Western Australians,
I enjoy a coffee. I am sure we all do. The key way to engage with your morning
cuppa is to make sure that it is in a keep cup or a return cup. Many of us do
that. However, we recognise that at times we can get caught and that sometimes
we use a single-use cup for coffee. The government is not banning single-use
coffee cups. The government is encouraging a
transition to a certified compostable alternative, including cups and lids.
There are companies that already provide coffee cups that meet the new
requirements. They are sustainable alternatives and are already widely used in
WA businesses.
There has been some commentary in the
community about the cost and impact of this change. Of course, this government
is always very mindful of the cost of changes for WA families. Again, this is a
transition that has been urged across the Western Australian community. The
government is leading the way. It is leading
the states. The community wants this change. The introduction of replacement
items for single-use plastic items will be cheaper in the long run, as
suppliers and manufacturers gear up and supply in volume. I can tell members that, at the moment, a replacement
certified compostable coffee cup and lid will involve an extra expense
of 7� over the existing cost. It is 3� for the cup and 4� for the lid. Seven
cents is a small amount of money. If the
average coffee costs $5, that is a 1.4 per cent increase, and it will get
cheaper over time. To those people who are concerned about cost, as we
always are, a 7�, or 1.4 per cent, increase on a $5 coffee is a reasonable cost
to ensure that we are moving away from single-use plastics.
We
will be engaged in formal consultation on these changes until 18 November this
year. We are consulting widely with the public and industry through
workshops as well. The stage 2 regulations that I spoke about will begin on 1 January
2023. I will wind up, Speaker. The transition timing for all these changes will
be negotiated as we consult the community.
As a reminder, WWF Australia has
again rated Western Australia as the best jurisdiction in Australia for action
on single-use plastics. We are very proud of it and we are very proud to have the
support of the Western Australian community as we introduce these changes.