Plastic Free Places Program
Posted on March 23rd, 2021
Assistance to transition to reduce and eliminate single-use plastics
The Queensland Government has recently passed legislation to ban certain single-use plastic items from September 1, 2021. These are:
- straws: regular straws, flexible straws, straws with a scoop, cocktail straws and bubble tea straws
- cutlery: knives, forks, spoons, teaspoons, sample tasting spoons, soup spoons, chopsticks, splayds and sporks
- bowls and plates
- stirrers: hot or cold drink stirrers, swizzle sticks and hot or cold food stirrers
- expanded polystyrene (foam) takeaway food containers and cups, for example ‘clamshell’ style containers.
To assist you to transition, the Plastic Free CQ program, Boomerang Alliance’s Plastic Free Places program and funded by the Queensland Government, has been set up as a way to provide assistance to retailers who want to reduce and eliminate single-use plastics. The program has Rockhampton Regional Council and Livingstone Shire Council support and is free and open to any food retailer in Rockhampton and Livingstone.
Local coordinator Jo Stoyel will work directly with food retailers by providing free tailored advice for packaging alternatives and can make it easy for local businesses to become ban compliant. She can help you choose the right alternative products, where to find them, and provide support to make the transition quick and easy. The program can also help you to reduce costs associated with switching, and offers free promotion for member businesses. It’s not just for the banned items either – Jo can help businesses to eliminate all single-use plastics, and certify those that do as Plastic Free Champions.
For more information and to join, please head to www.plasticfreecq.org, or contact the Coordinator Jo Stoyel on 0408 873 047 or jo@plasticfreecq.org
