Support and opposition for Hobart City Council’s plastic ban bid
A global fast-food giant has expressed interest in working with the Hobart City Council on its implementation of a bylaw banning plastic takeaway items. READ THE EDITORIAL
Business
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A MOVE to ban plastic takeaway items from Hobart has been generally well received, but concerns have been raised about the impact on small businesses and compliance with national competition and fair trading policies.
After a landmark vote on Monday night, Hobart will likely be the first Australian capital city to ban single-use plastics under a proposed bylaw.
The Hobart City Council approved the single-use plastics bylaw which will ban single-use, petroleum-based plastic containers and utensils next year as part of the council’s zero-waste strategy.
CHEERS AS HOBART SAYS GOODBYE TO PLASTICS
The bylaw will also apply to plastic cups, lids, utensils, straws and condiment sachets.
Tasmanian Small Business Council chief executive Robert Mallett said his council was not consulted in the lead-up to the passing of the bylaw and it could have a significant impact on small businesses with an already low profit margin.
EDITORIAL: PLASTIC BAN IS A BIG CALL
“This smacks of selfishness to me by those who promoted the idea in the council,” he said.
“It’s grandstanding to make themselves look good rather than a genuine effort to try and change habits of all Tasmanians to improve our environment.
“If the council wanted to demonstrate true leadership, they wouldn’t have just gone it alone like this, they would have talked to the 28 other councils and gone to the State Government to help facilitate it statewide. That would be non-discriminatory — there wouldn’t be a business having to charge more for their products in the city than a store in Glenorchy or Kingborough.”
Mr Mallett said 60 per cent of Hobart’s rates came from the commercial sector.
“If the council is going to continue to squeeze the commercial sector like this and potentially push business out, they may inevitably have to raise rates for people who live in the city,” he said.
Environment Tasmania director and former Hobart alderman, Philip Cocker, welcomed the ban.
“This is a priceless piece of branding for Hobart, at negligible cost, that demonstrates a caring for the environment,” he said.
“This is a small, but important step in environmental sustainability. With education leading up to the bylaw coming into effect I am sure all Hobart businesses will be able to implement the bylaw with positive effects on their businesses.”
It is not just small businesses readying themselves for the change next year.
A McDonald’s Australia spokesman said the company was making global commitments in recycling and packaging and would work with the HCC on its local measures.
“As one of the world’s largest restaurant businesses, we know we have the responsibility and opportunity to make significant change, and have been working for some time to find appropriate, viable, and sustainable alternatives for some of our packaging,” the spokesman said.
“We look forward to consulting with the council further as they look to adopt these measures.”
Alderman Marti Zucco, who voted against the ban in favour of pursing a statewide approach, on Tuesday wrote to HCC general manager Nick Heath raising concerns that it may breach federal competition or fair trading policies.
“What’s the point of going down this process if legal advice tells us we can’t do it?” he said.
“No advice of this kind was sought before the vote.
“It must go through a proper process — this has been the sledgehammer approach.”
Australian Council of Recycling spokesman Robert Kelman said the council’s move was welcomed and mirrored global efforts such as the European Union directive to ban single-use
plastics by 2021.
Councillor Bill Harvey, who moved the banning motion, said the council had a packaging prototype that could be handed out to businesses over the next 12 months.
“We’ll be guiding them and helping them to transition from petroleum-based, single-use plastics into a compostable packaging,” he said.
“There are already lots of compostable alternatives. The City of Hobart has been testing products for a long time now.”
The council will submit the proposed bylaw and regulatory impact statement to the director of local government for consideration.
If the documents are considered satisfactory, the director will issue a certificate allowing the council to start a minimum 21-day formal public consultation process.
After the public consultation, the council may then formally make the bylaw.
Restaurant embraces plastics ban challenge
IT’S a takeaway food that’s served universally in plastic containers, but one Indian cuisine eatery says it welcomes the Hobart City Council’s bylaw to stamp out single-use plastics.
Annapurna Indian Restaurant is one of many Hobart businesses serving takeaway meals in plastic packaging.
Owner Celeste Manral said she was conscious of Tasmania’s growing desire to do away with single-use plastics and said the latest bylaw would be a good opportunity to recreate the delivery of her business’s takeaway food in a more eco-friendly way.
“For me, it [the supply of plastic] has always been in the front of my mind,” she said. “I think the council has voted in a really good thing and I look forward to seeking a solution to finding appropriate takeaway containers.”
Mrs Manral said she thought it might be hard to find suitable containers for her restaurant’s curries, which at times are difficult to enclose even in plastic packaging.
One plastic-free packaging option could be Biopak’s sugar cane pulp range, which CEO Gary Smith said provides a “like-for-like alternative” to most plastic containers found in takeaway shops.
“I can’t think of a plastic container product in the market that doesn’t have an identical-looking eco-friendly option available,” he said.
Mr Smith said the council would prove to the rest of Australia that the environmentally based decision “wasn’t so hard”.
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