PLASTIC POLLUTION

For the past five years, WWF-Australia has been monitoring the progress of all states and territories in banning the most harmful and unnecessary single-use plastic products, that pose the greatest risk if leaked into the environment. 

Our 'State of Plastics in Australia' scorecard was first published in 2019, and since then we've seen impressive progress right across the country. The sea of red we saw in 2019 has been replaced by a sea of green, meaning most states and territories have banned most products we track, and others have plans under way to do so. 

For the past two years Western Australia has been ranked first on the scorecard. But there’s little separating South Australia, Queensland and the ACT, which have demonstrated significant leadership and are all rolling out ambitious plastic plans that include product bans, but also non-regulatory measures to reduce plastic consumption and increase reuse and recycling. 

In addition to single-use plastic bans, most states and territories are also rolling out programs to support communities and individuals to reuse and reduce our reliance on single-use items in general.

In just five years we’ve seen a huge shift across Australia on single-use plastics, and a lot of that is due to the efforts of individuals, communities, schools, and businesses. They’ve called on governments to take action and our politicians have listened.

This is a big win for people and nature, including seabirds and marine mammals who will encounter less deadly plastic in their environments.