SINGLE USE PLASTICS BAN

While plastic is a versatile and useful product, it’s increasingly threatening our natural environment. Single-use plastic items are those designed to be used once and then thrown away. They are cheap and convenient, but they pose an enormous threat to our environment.

Plastic packaging and single-use plastic items make up 60% of all litter in NSW. The Plastic Reduction and Circular Economy Act 2021, which was passed by NSW Parliament on November 16, 2021, sets out the items to be banned in NSW. These bans will prevent nearly 2.7 billion plastic items from entering the coastal, marine and bushland environments of NSW over the next 20 years.

The legislation also provides a comprehensive framework that will help transition NSW towards a circular economy where materials and resources are valued and kept in the productive economy while creating jobs and protecting the environment and the community.

The NSW Government has committed to banning certain problematic plastics, such as single-use plastics, and addressing the problem of plastic waste.

From June 1, 2022, the supply of lightweight plastic bags will be banned in NSW. And from November 1, 2022, the supply of single-use plastic straws, stirrers, cutlery, bowls and plates and expanded polystyrene (EPS) food service items will be banned in NSW. The supply of single-use plastic cotton buds and microbeads in rinse-off personal care products will also be banned in NSW.

The bans affect everyone ... businesses, organisations, and consumers. Consumers will no longer receive banned plastic items when purchasing goods, including take-away food.

This will start to be noticed from June 1 when lightweight plastic bags are banned, and again from November 1 when other items are banned, including single-use plastic straws, stirrers, cutlery, plates, bowls and cottonbuds, expanded polystyrene food service items and rinse-off personal care products containing plastic microbeads. Alternatives to banned items may be provided by businesses and organisations or, ideally, consumers can bring their own.

If consumers still have banned single-use plastic items at home once the bans come into effect, they can continue to use them for personal use but they cannot supply them for operation of a business or organisation such as a sporting or community club.

The bans applies to anyone who supplies a prohibited item in NSW while carrying on a business. This includes carrying on a business for commercial purposes.

It is not an offence to supply a banned item to a person outside NSW, but it is recommended that you check for similar bans in other jurisdictions.

KIDS GIVING BACK

DOING GOOD FEELS GOOD … AND THAT’S GOOD FOR EVERYONE

Parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches and counsellors all share the same concern echoed widely in the media: adolescent mental health is in crisis. It was in a spiralling state before Covid, and since the pandemic … well it seems to have nosedived even further – and for valid reasons.

Wellbeing centres are popping up on school campuses, social and emotional learning is starting to take an important part of curriculum goals in schooling and efforts to reduce the stigma – even erase it – of mental health issues, and particularly those of anxiety and depression are showing greater success with each younger generation. Increasingly young people themselves are openly talking about once taboo or shameful topics; raising awareness of their stress levels, their causes of anxiety and states of depression. And many are proactively taking steps for both treatment and prevention of mental health issues, as well as securing their wellness by seeking activities that reduce their stress, give them a sense of meaning, and make them feel good.

“This is the best thing I’ve done in a long time!” Our staff and volunteers at Kids Giving Back hear this regularly. With programs running in our Paddington hub as well as in schools, kids are given a variety of opportunity to give to others and feel really good about themselves – and they love it. Volunteering delivers all kinds of wins, for everyone. It builds community and creates a positive difference in the lives of others. Those on the receiving end of generosity get a tangible benefit as well as a psychological benefit. Everything produced and given at Kids Giving Back is packaged with a handwritten message from a young person. Messages of hope, encouragement and empathy colourfully decorate every food package, care package and box or bag of supplies. *Stan, a recipient of one of our food packages wrote to us: “Thank you so much for the delicious meal. When I read the wonderful message on the lid and saw it was written by a child, I thought to myself, the world isn’t such a bad place after all”. Building community by not only sharing one’s generosity, but one’s empathy, builds connection that makes community better, stronger and happier.

With so many stressors, screens and competing influences harming our children’s mental health, the simple act of serving others is a wellness tonic for greater happiness.

VOLUNTEERING

• Builds self esteem. • Improves communication skills. • Hones decision-making. • Offers real-world experience and skill building. • Develops leadership. • Associated with increased academic performance. • Strengthens positive socialising with peers and others and decreases social isolation. • Enables self-discovery and sparks new interests. • Increases confidence. • Develops empathy. • Decreases stress, anxiety and depression. • Increases engagement with the world and interest in solving social and environmental issues. • Provides young people with a sense of purpose. • Leads to greater sense of connection to others – a foundation of feeling happy.

Kids Giving Back is on a mission to build the next generation of generosity, not just because doing good does good for the world, but because doing good also feels good for our young people. They need to feel happier, and they deserve it. As servant leader Albert Schweitzer once said, “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” Kids Giving Back runs programs every week for kids, corporates and families, afterschool, weekdays, weekends and in school holidays. Join us to do good and feel good. Visit www.kidsgivingback.org to learn more about giving opportunities for every age.

Gabrielle Morrissey Hansen, PhD CEO