ACT to ban heavyweight plastic bags from January 1 2024

Single-use plastic plates and bowls will also be banned in the territory in a matter of weeks, with the ban to take effect on July 1.

Plastic microbeads in rinse-off personal care and cleaning products and expanded polystyrene loose fill packaging and polystyrene trays will also be banned from July.

Heavyweight and boutique plastic bags will be banned from January 1 next year.

City Services Minister Chris Steel said the decision to ban these single-use plastic items was informed by a 12-week consultation with the community and industry stakeholders.

He said this consultation resulted in the government's decision to wait an extra six months to ban the heavyweight plastic bags.

"Industry also told us they need time to prepare for the ban, particularly in relation to banning additional plastic bags," Mr Steel said.

"The ACT government has listened to that and the ban on heavyweight and boutique plastic bags will not start for six months and we have also put in place other appropriate exemptions for some other items."

Western Australia has already banned heavyweight plastic bags. Queensland will ban heavyweight bags later this year and South Australia will ban the bags next year.

Woolworths has already stopped selling heavyweight plastic bags in its stores. These have been replaced by paper bags. Coles has also begun to phase out plastic bags.

Coles stores in Canberra also trialled a ban on single-use plastic bags for fruit and vegetables last year in its Canberra stores. But the supermarket has resumed using produce bags which are compostable.

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The ACT government has no plans at this stage to ban produce bags as the only suitable alternative is a compostable bag.

"Other types of single-use plastics were included in the list of proposed items. The consultation identified, however, that no suitable alternatives are currently available for these items," Mr Steel said.

"As a result, they have not been included in this ban but may be considered in the future as better substitutes are developed."

Other single-use plastic items which will not be banned in the ACT include plastic takeaway containers, polystyrene packaging used for packaging electronics, furniture and other bulky items and plastic bowls with a lid.

The government is also exploring whether to expand the container deposit scheme to include wine, spirit and cordial bottles and will start consultation on this.

"With more than 444 million containers recycled since our scheme started, including these additional items will make it even easier for Canberrans to recycle and cut waste going into landfill," Mr Steel said.

"These reforms demonstrate our ongoing commitment to building a circular economy."

Laws to ban single-use plastics in the ACT passed the Legislative Assembly in March 2021 and came into force with the first stage of the ban later that year.

Under the laws, the government has already banned single-use plastic cutlery, plastic straws, expanded polystyrene takeaway food and beverage containers, cotton buds with plastic sticks and all oxo-degradable plastics.

Plastic bags less than 35 microns thick were banned in the ACT in 2011.

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