Put Your Sporks Out: Canberra Is Moving To Ban Single-Use Plastics
Not everyone backs the move.
Way back in 1987, author, poet and environmentalist Wendell Berry bemoaned that we had become a world of “mere consumers”, cocooned by single-use disposable devices made of plastic and divorced from the skills that might allow us to feed, clothe or house ourselves without the help of major, multi-national companies.
Well, uh, it’s safe to say that things have got considerably worse in the three decades since that first condemnation. Countries around the world — including Australia — might have moved to ban the plastic bag, but we’re still dependant on a range of single-use plastics, from takeaway coffee cups to plastic cutlery, most of which ends up in landfill.
♻️ Easy ways to reduce ur plastic:
• reusable grocery bags
• metal straws
• menstrual cups
• take your own coffee cup or smoothie cup to cafes etc
• take Tupperware to sushi restaurants etc, and pack your own for takeawayI’m working on myself too! Leave ur ideas below 💕
— shaaanxo 🐼 (@xoShaaan) August 21, 2018
Well, that could be set to change this year as the ABC reports, with Canberra’s City Services Minister Chris Steel proposing that the territory move to ban all-single use plastics.
Steel isn’t the originator of the plan, of course — earlier this year, South Australian politicians reported that they were toying with a similar move, and the European Union has already voted for a motion stating that any alternative to single-use plastic should be considered by retailers.
Whether or not Steel’s proposal will actually become law is another question entirely. Liberals in Canberra have unsurprisingly pushed back against the proposal, claiming that any legislation would have to be poked full of exceptions.
In a cafe in Annandale right now and I've seen TWO people sitting having a coffee out of a takeaway cups. WANNA SMASH IT OUT OF THEIR HANDS, but I know my heavy handed ways aren't the way to change pic.twitter.com/bwmYfxY0sp
— Melanie Tait (@MelanieTait) September 17, 2018
There are no simple victories in our fight against plastic. In the past, disability advocates have pointed out that any legislation that targets disposable straws has the potential to hurt people living with disabilities — Steel’s proposal may well receive similar pushback down the line.
In the meantime, consumers can do their own part by hauling around a keep cup or keeping a discreet metal straw in their bag. After all, change begins at home.
Lead Image: Pixabay.