Enviro News
Victoria-Wide Single-Use Plastics Ban – from 1 February 2023
Single-use plastics make up a third of the litter in our environment and are difficult and costly to clean up. They pollute the environment, harming wildlife and contaminating our food and water. They are also a poor use of resources – they are often used for only a few minutes and generate significant waste that is not recyclable They can often easily be replaced with reusable products.
Under new regulations, from 1 February 2023, Victorian businesses and organisations (including schools) will not be able to sell, supply or provide a number of single-use plastic items. The ban applies to the following single-use plastic items made from conventional, degradable or compostable plastics:
- Drinking straws
- Cutlery including knives, forks, spoons, chopsticks, sporks, splades, food picks and sporks
- Plates
- Drink stirrers and sticks
- Cotton bud sticks
The ban also applies to:
- Food service items and drink containers made from expanded polystyrene. This includes expanded polystyrene plates, cups, bowls, clam shells and any cover or lid that is also made from expanded polystyrene.
MGC will be implementing the Victorian government’s single-use plastics ban in the items we use as a school community including The Pedal Powered cinema, Swimming Sports and Athletics carnivals, at the canteen, classroom and staffroom activities and all other community events. We will not be using any banned single-use plastic items from 1 February 2023. MGC has been across this issue for many years and have worked with our fabulous canteen providers, Bocca Food, who banned single use plastic straws and cutlery in 2017 and from 2019 embarked on an overall of the food packaging to move towards 100% home compostable packaging for their food packaging. We know that parents, staff and students are already on board with minimising waste to landfill and the sustainability team would like to commend the Victorian Government’s Single Use plastic ban.
Exceptions to the ban
People who need single-use plastic drinking straws due to a disability or for a medical need will still be able to purchase and use these items. If your child needs to continue using single-use plastic drinking straws because of a disability or medical need, please let their year level coordinator know and we will ensure that there is a supply available for your child’s use at future school activities.
The Victorian government has produced a useful Fact Sheet explaining which items are banned and which are not, including information about exemptions.
Student lunches and snacks from home
Offences relating to the ban do not apply to private or domestic activities at home, e.g. individual families’ decisions about lunch packaging. The intention of the government’s new regulations is to remove these items from the supply chain prior to reaching the customer.
We encourage all families to continue to do their best to minimise the amount of single use plastic by providing students with reusable drink bottles and where possible, rubbish free lunches. Students are welcome to BYO reusable cups, plates and cutlery to the canteen to do their bit to minimise waste, even the biodegradable packaging that takes resources to produce!
As part of our effort to be a zero-waste to landfill school, we provide a recycling hub where students can drop off items that cannot be collected in standard municipal recycling bins. These include items such as medical blister packs, mobile phones, batteries, CDs and more. Thanks to generous support from the MGC Parents association, we will be expanding this service to provide more items in 2023, so watch this space!
If you have any questions please contact Sustainability Coordinator Andrew Vance avance@mgc.vic.edu.au
