Lets Stop it and Swap it NSW!
Your reusable bags should be getting lots of love this month with lightweight plastic bags now a thing of the past in NSW. We also bring news of our other key waste management initiatives.
The first of the 2022 single-use plastic bans came into effect on 1 June and applies to plastic bags 35 microns thick or less. That’s the singlet-style thin bags with handles we’re talking about.
Thicker plastic bags, over 35 microns, such as those from some supermarkets and boutique stores, are not banned, nor are what’s termed barrier bags, including fruit and vegie and deli bags, bin liners, compost caddy liners, nappy bags and pet-waste bags.
A new campaign to support the lightweight plastic bag ban, Stop it and Swap it, has been launched. Please help us to spread the word. To make it easy we’ve developed a stakeholder toolkit, with social tiles in five different languages, a video, web & newsletter content and FAQs. If you’d like a copy to share with your stakeholders or community group, email us at engagement@epa.nsw.gov.au.
This first ban is followed later in the year, on 1 November, with bans on other single-use plastic items including straws, stirrers, cutlery, plates, bowls and cotton buds, polystyrene food ware and cups, and rinse-off personal care items containing plastic microbeads.
Single-use plastic items and packaging make up 60% of all litter in NSW and these bans will help to prevent almost 2.7 billion items of plastic litter from ending up in our environment over the next 20 years.
In other EPA waste news - the next steps in the Waste Delivery Plan
We were thrilled to have our staff attend Waste 2022, the Coffs Harbour Waste Conference held in early May, and to meet with so many of our stakeholders who are playing an active part in NSW’s transition to a circular economy. We really value the relationships we build and the conversations we have at such events with colleagues particularly across industry and local councils. 
Organics
- To support the mandate for separate collection of food and garden organics from all NSW households by 2030, and following extensive feedback, streamlined grants are being designed to help local councils to roll out new collection services to their residents.
Carbon negative waste sector
- To inform the new $37 million Carbon Recycling and Abatement Fund, we have commissioned a study identifying opportunities for carbon abatement through the use of recycled materials in construction and manufacturing. Using the results of this study we’ll work with our partners to identify ways to decarbonise the NSW resource recovery sector.
Government procurement
- Work is underway to require NSW Government departments to preference products that contain recycled content on an ‘if not, why not basis’, and to incorporate recycled content and NABERS Waste Rating requirements for Government premises.
Resource Recovery Framework review
Public exhibition for the NSW Resource Recovery Framework Issues Paper closed on 6 May and Dr Cathy Wilkinson, Professor at Monash University, is now considering the submissions for an Independent Review Report which will be finalised shortly.
The EPA will consider the findings and recommendations of this independent review and will develop a work program in response, as part of the broader Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041 initiative.