Plans to ban certain types of single-use plastic in the ACT as early as mid-2020 have been put off due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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City Services Minister Chris Steel announced the territory government would introduce a bill to phase out the sale and distribution of single-use plastics last December, with the legislation due to be introduced in the first quarter of this year.
Under the changes - which were hoped to have been passed by mid-2020 - plastic cutlery and polystyrene cups would have been banned immediately.
Expanded polystyrene takeaway food and beverage containers and plastic stirrers would have been given the flick as well.
The ban would have then extended to plastic fruit and vegetable barrier bags, oxodegradable plastic products, and plastic straws after one year.
The ACT would have been the the first jurisdiction in Australia to ban fruit and vegetable barrier bags.
However COVID-19 had impacted the government's consultation with the community, business, and industry, Mr Steel said.
"We wanted to make sure that we are not imposing extra regulation on the hospitality and events industries, during a time when they have just been trying to survive or are not operating," Mr Steel said.
"The ban will likely take place later than we intended for the first stage of items."
Mr Steel said the government would introduce the bill at some stage this year.
However with reduced sitting days and an election in October, it's unlikely the plastic ban bill will get dealt with in this parliament, The Canberra Times understands.
COVID-19 has prompted Australians to once again embrace disposable plastic products, reversing years of work to reduce their usage.
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The ACT government had promised to make all government events single-use plastic free and explore creating plastic-free precincts as part of its bid to crack down on waste.
Clean Up Australia chair Pip Kiernan last week told The Canberra Times changing habits and a necessary increase in single-use items had exacerbated plastic production which ended up as litter or in landfill.
"Habits have changed significantly during this period where we're not going to restaurants, we're ordering takeaway which comes with its own single-use packaging, and we're doing a lot more online shopping which is heavily packaged in plastic," she said.
"I'm hopeful there's enough momentum in this country now that we will go back to having that sense of urgency around solving our plastic pollution challenges."
However programs like Green Caffeen continued to operate during the pandemic.
The success of the trial - where patrons scan, swap, drink and return reusable takeaway coffee cups free of charge - was to determine whether Canberra would phase out disposable coffee cups.
