NSW Plastics Action Plan | State Government’s plan to reduce the impact of plastics

Launched this month, the NSW Plastics Action Plan sets out the first six actions to achieve four long term outcomes to better manage and reduce the impact of plastics. 

Forming a key part of the NSW Government’s NSW Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041, the NSW Plastics Action Plan outlines a comprehensive suite of actions to address plastic at all points of the plastics lifecycle, from production and consumption to disposal and recycling.

While plastic is a versatile and useful product, it’s also increasingly threatening our natural environment. Once in the environment, plastics take many years to degrade, often breaking into smaller parts which can kill our wildlife.

NSW generates 800,000 tonnes of plastics every year, with only 10% being recycled. The NSW Plastics Action Plan is helping achieve national waste targets including:

  • phasing out problematic and unnecessary plastics by 2025
  • banning the export of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres, starting in 2021
  • reducing the total waste generated in Australia by 10% per person by 2030
  • recovering an average 80% of resources from all waste streams by 2030
  • significantly increasing the use of recycled content by government and industry.

Wanless Waste Management recognises plastic’s impact on our natural environment and human health is a serious and growing problem, which is why it’s working towards achieving a 90% recycling rate in the next 18 months. Contact us for more information, and to see how you can help win the war on plastics.