“The amount of plastic in our oceans is predicted to outweigh the amount of fish by 2050. That is a horrifying prediction and a call to action to ensure our wildlife, like the turtle featured in the campaign, can have a brighter future.” Said James Griffin, Minister for Environment.

The ban is to prevent 2.7 billion plastic litter from getting into the environment for the next 20 as a part of the massive shift away from single-use plastics. The litter accounts for around 60% of all litter in NSW.

This ban is a part of a greater plan – ‘The NSW Plastics Action Plan’ in which highlights several waste management targets:

• Phase out problematic and unnecessary plastics by 2025
• Reduce the total waste generated in Australia by 10% per person by 2030
• Achieve an average 80% recovery rate of resources from all waste streams by 2030
• Significantly increase the use of recycled content by government and industry
• Reduce plastic litter items by 30% by 2025
• Reduce the overall litter by 60% by 2030
• Triple the plastics recycling rate by 2030.

The four long-term outcomes that the NSW Government are aiming for are:

• Reduce plastic waste generation
• By reducing the demand for single use plastics, this will severely lower the amount of waste being produced by NSW.
• Make the most out of our plastic resources
• Not only can we lower the use of single-use plastics, but we can recycle and find multiple uses for the plastics to additionally lower waste
• Reduce plastic leakage
• Because of the lowered plastic waste, this will help provide a cleaner environment for everyone and prevent plastics being release to the ocean.
• Improve our understanding of the future or plastics
• To ensure we know the optimal way to produce, use, and recycle plastic

As controversial as the ban is, we believe it will leave a positive impact on our environment and our capabilities as a community on how to properly recycle, and with government incentives to push companies to innovate and create more optimal solutions.