Canberra’s showgrounds and festival venues will no longer be littered with plastic plates and cutlery after the fun of the fair.

In what has been described as an Australian first, the Royal Canberra Show and other public events would be plastic-free, Chris Steel, ACT Minister for Transport and City Services, announced today.

Public events will not be able to supply plastic straws, takeaway containers, or plates and bowls, but will have to use sustainable alternatives, Mr Steel said. And the stallholders support it enthusiastically.

“This was a natural fit to us,” said Geoff Cannock, CEO of the Royal National Capital Agricultural Society, the organisation that runs the Canberra Show.

“When the ACT Government suggested it to us, we jumped on board. As agriculturalists, we’re concerned about our environment in which we grow our food and fibre.”

Dennis Humphry, a caterer at the Canberra Show for 40 years, said the plastic ban would not make any difference to him.

“I’ve used biodegradable packaging for at least a couple of years now,” he said.

Most of the food he sells is wrapped in paper or served in cardboard cartons, which the cleaners recycle. He doesn’t put paper straws on the counter, either, but only gives them out when someone asks for one.

In many cases, too, he said, paper products were cheaper than plastic.

“I don’t think there would be a caterer that would say: ‘Oh, no, we’re not going to change to cardboard or wooden spoons’,” he said. “There’s no difference, except what we use is biodegradable. The food still tastes the same, and we serve it the same.”

Plastic-free showbags will come further down the track, Mr Cannock thought.

“When a department store ceases to put their products in a branded bag, then that will be the time,” he said. “I don’t see why they couldn’t be in paper bags, and just as colourful, and I think eventually that’s the way it will go. When I was 20, we did all our shopping in paper bags. I don’t know why they don’t bring it back tomorrow.”

Australia Day in the Capital, the National Folk Festival, the Enlighten Festival, the Balloon Spectacular, Symphony in the Park, Ceremony Day, and Reconciliation Day will also be plastic-free.

Tranche 2 of ACT plastics ban

The items banned at public events were a broader range of single-use plastic products than were already banned in the ACT, Mr Steel said.

But from July 2022, single-use plastic straws, fruit and vegetable barrier bags, cotton buds with plastic straws, and oxo-degradable plastic products that break down in the environment (e.g., degradable plastic bags and dog-waste bags) will be banned in the ACT, under tranche 2 of the ACT Government’s Plastic Reduction Bill 2020.

Tranche 1, which came into effect July this year, banned plastic cutlery, drink stirrers, and expanded polystyrene containers.

“Many of these items can be avoided entirely,” Mr Steel said. “They don’t need to be provided.”

For example, he said, straws were often provided by default in hospitality venues and at events, even though most people did not need or ask for them.

“We hope that just by eliminating them, we can reduce the need for substitutions for more sustainable alternatives,” Mr Steel said. “But there are also good sustainable alternatives made out of cardboard or other organic materials.

“Reuse is certainly part of our waste hierarchy. We want to reduce first, so eliminate anything that we can. Where we do not need to use any product, we want to make sure that it’s reused as much as possible as part of a circular economy.”

For instance, instead of using fruit and vegetable barrier bags at supermarkets, shoppers could carry their greens in a ‘greener’ reusable bag.

The government will also look at sustainable alternatives for single-use products; a large compositing facility (in development) might be able to take some products, Mr Steel thought.

The ACT Government wanted to hear from people with disability and their advocates about exemptions for people who need to use plastic straws.

The government is considering adopting Queensland and South Australia’s approach where straws are supplied in pharmacies, care settings, and under the counter in hospitality venues, without people needing to prove they have a disability.

For more information, visit www.yoursay.act.gov.au/single-use-plastics.