Plastics phase-out backed by Packaging Forum – Australia
Posted on July 6, 2021 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting RegulationsSource: Plastics phase-out backed by Packaging Forum
Phase-out timeline
By late 2022:
- PVC meat trays
- PS (polystyrene) takeaway food and beverage packaging
- EPS (expanded polystyrene) food and beverage packaging (including meat trays)
- Degradable plastic products (eg, oxo-degradable)
- Plastic drink stirrers
- Plastic-stemmed cotton buds (including bioplastics)
By mid-2023:
- Plastic produce bags (not including prepackaged produce)
- Plastic plates, bowls and cutlery (disposable)
- Plastic straws
- Plastic produce labels
By mid-2025:
- All other PVC food and beverage packaging
- All other PS food and beverage packaging (eg, yoghurt packs)

How many people today grab a takeaway coffee cup from the local cafe to drink on the go? We don’t know, but the number must be enormous.. Most every one of the above have a plastic top that will last 100s of years. Some cafes still use plastic cups that last a similar time. Is 10 minutes of coffee worth 100s of years of trash?
These items can be seen littering our gutters and on our streets all over the place. If they were all cardboard, they would still be littered, but they would, at least, be gone in a short time.
They do not need to be made of plastic.
On the way home from the gym last week, a distance of about 1 km (1/2 mile), I counted the items of plastic litter on the curb as I walked. In that short distance I counted 63 pieces of plastic litter. Plastic drink bottles, bottle tops, candy wrappers, plastic film, polystyrene fragments etc. That seemed to be a lot to me. I guess it is a generational thing. Our parents would have been horrified to see that amount, whereas it seems to go unnoticed by our youth of today. In another 20 years how many pieces will there be on this stretch, -- 200? What will today’s youth think of that new amount then when they are older? Will their children be so readily accepting of a higher amount of litter?
Discussion · No Comments
There are no responses to "Plastics phase-out backed by Packaging Forum – Australia". Comments are closed for this post.Oops! Sorry, comments are closed at this time. Please try again later.