Greens alderman Bill Harvey says Hobart businesses are ready to embrace a plastic container ban

Hobart food retailers who use plastic food containers and utensils are facing large fines — you won’t believe how much.

Isis St Pierre, left, and Maya McDonell at Sweet Sassafras Cafe, in North Hobart, which already uses non-plastic alternatives. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

HOBART food retailers may be hit with fines of up to $1300 if they offer plastic food containers and utensils under a proposed new bylaw banning the use of single-use plastics.

The proposed Hobart City Council single-use plastics bylaw will ban single use, petroleum-based plastic containers and utensils by 2020 as the council wages its war on waste.

The bylaw would apply to plastic cups, lids, utensils, straws and condiment sachets, and if approved, would come into effect next year. The $1300 fine would come into play if the matter were prosecuted but a council officer could issue an infringement notice of $326.

Greens Councillor Bill Harvey has been championing a ban on single-use plastics for years and does not anticipate too many businesses being hit with fines in Hobart.

“There is huge momentum behind initiatives like this,” he said. “I think most food businesses accept that compostable packaging is what they should be using.”

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But Tasmanian Small Business Council chief executive Robert Mallett said many small businesses would be forced to raise prices to compensate for the additional costs.

A regulatory impact assessment from Blue Environment, commissioned by the council, found the cost to food retailers moving from single-use plastics to biodegradable food packaging may involve an increase of 8-12 cents per unit for average-sized food containers.

“The margins are small enough now so it’s getting hard for businesses to absorb price increases and stay competitive,” Mr Mallet said.

Maya McDonell, who co-owns Sweet Sassafras cafe at North Hobart, says her business has operated with a low waste ethos since it opened.

“We have stainless straws and cloth napkins,” she said.

“We work with local producers to reduce our waste in the back end and we use Hobart Beverage Company, which has a glass bottle return scheme.”

Council officers have approved the bylaw but it will need majority support from aldermen and councillors to pass. The bylaw will be debated at a city infrastructure committee meeting on Wednesday, chaired by Alderman Tanya Denison, who is concerned about the bylaw.

“My main concern is that this appears to be another example of imposing more costs on Hobart’s ratepayers and businesses without even identifying that there is a problem in Hobart,” she said.