Living plastic-free in Willoughby
Willoughby City Council is committed to reducing the use of single-use plastic within the local government area.
Why?
- The plastic coffee cups, straws, bags and bottles that we use for just a few minutes are made from a material designed to last forever
- Plastic never breaks down, it just breaks up into smaller pieces
- Every piece of plastic that has ever been produced still exists in the world today
- Each year 8m tonnes of plastic leak into our oceans (the equivalent of dumping a garbage truck full of plastic each minute)
- By 2050, there will be more plastics than fish (by weight) in our oceans
- Plastics transfer into the food chain – carrying pollutants with them
NSW Single-use plastic ban
In 2022, NSW is banning certain single-use plastics.
Learn more
What can we do?
Residents
Here are our top tips to reduce unnecessary single use plastics in your life. No need to try and achieve everything at once, it takes time to form new habits and no one is perfect, instead, pick out a few achievable goals, keep improving over time and encourage your friends, family and colleagues to do the same.
- Take your reusable cup for your coffee or take a few minutes and drink in
- Join the ‘swap and go’ program Green Caffeen to find local cafes that provide reusable cups to borrow and return
- Carry your own reusable water bottle
- Remember your reusable shopping bag, and bring fruit/veg produce bags to the shops
- Carry a set of reusable cutlery for your take-away meals
- Bring your own containers to takeaway food shops and to the supermarket deli
- Say no to the straw and refuse soy sauce fish bottles
- Avoid over-packaged products, shop at a farmer’s market, bulk food store or food co-op if there is one nearby
- Grow your own food or herbs to reduce the need to buy them in packaging
- Avoid using cling film and store your food in containers or with beeswax wraps
- Ditch disposable plates, cups and cutlery if you are having a party, opt for washable options instead
- Don’t use balloons for celebrations and don’t accept a balloon from promoters (and tell them why) Balloonsblow.org
- Reduce plastic in your bathroom by switching to a bamboo toothbrush, soap bars, shampoo bars and a good quality reusable razor
- Ladies, consider investing in reusable waste-free menstrual products like a menstrual cup, period undies or washable pads
- Have a baby or expecting soon? Invest in cloth nappies which are not only better for the planet but also for your baby’s bum
- Swap out bin liners with newspapers or leave your bin naked, that’s even easier if you compost your food waste
- Assess your recycling habits, do a waste audit of your home, and reduce your consumption in the first place
- Start thinking circularly. How can you give something as much life as possible? Can you rent it, share it, reuse it, repair it, repurpose it, redesign it, or get it second hand, and in the end recycle it or compost it?
- Join Council’s Bye Bye Plastic campaign and take the pledge
- Join Plastic Free July and Keep Australia Beautiful for other actions on plastic. Council is proud to be a partner of both of these organisations.