Willoughby City Council goes single-use plastic free

Willoughby City Council has passed a motion to remove single-use plastics from all council operations — including cups, plates, cutlery, bottles, straws and balloons — in an effort to combat the over 8 million tonnes of plastic entering the ocean every year.

Unanimously approved at a council meeting on 13 August, the motion will see internal-facing council operations remove all single-use plastics from 1 October 2018. The external ban — including public events — commences on 1 January 2019.

All single-use plastic has already been removed from the council’s office building in Chatswood. Collected plastics will be recycled at TerraCycle and Reverse Garbage, as well as upcycled at community workshops. Further steps, including removal of single-use plastic at the council’s community facilities and engagement with event stall holders, will begin soon.

The move to ban all single-use plastics is the latest in Willoughby City Council’s many environmental initiatives. As part of Plastic Free July, Willoughby City Council, in partnership with Ku-ring-gai Council and North Sydney Council, launched a campaign through the Better Business Partnership called Bye-Bye Plastic.

Council has also diverted more than 224,790 kg of hazardous material and 137,000 kg of e-waste from landfill since February 2017 via the Community Recycling Centre in Artarmon. More than 40% of red-bin waste is processed for compost in a brand new alternative waste solution.

“During consultation for Our Future Willoughby, 2028 we received over 6000 public comments from our residents overwhelmingly identifying that they want Willoughby to be a leader in sustainability,” said Willoughby Mayor Gail Giles-Gidney. “The removal of single-use plastics is just one of council’s commitments to strengthen Willoughby as a green city.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/DLeonis