Civil Liability (BYO Containers) Amendment Bill
Tuesday 5 July 2022
Ms CLANCY (Elder) (11:22): I rise today in support of this bill. How often have we all gone into a supermarket and had that moment—I do not know if you have done this, member for Hammond—when you need to buy some olives and you think, 'Well, do I buy a container at the deli and get another single-use plastic, or do I buy a jar?' and have that little moral dilemma of, 'Is glass worse for the environment because of all the energy put into making the glass to then put the olives in?' It is exciting to be able to have this flexibility where I can take one of my Tupperware containers and get it.
It also really mixes up our Friday nights. At the moment, normally on a Friday night as often as we can—when I am not busy at a Kenilworth Football Club trivia night—I am at home with my family and we have our movie and takeaway night. Do you know what we get every single Friday because we are worried about all the plastic containers if we get anything else? We get pizza because at least we can put the box into a green bin. So I am pretty excited that we are going to be able to mix up our Friday evenings, finally.
I want to thank the Hon. Robert Simms in the other place, who introduced this bill, and Deputy Premier Susan Close, in her capacity as Minister for Climate, Environment and Water, for introducing the bill in this place. This piece of legislation is sensible, good for consumers, good for workers, good for business and good for our planet.
Our land and waterways are being choked by billions upon billions of pieces of plastic waste. Australians are using 130 kilograms of plastic per person per year and recycling less than 12 per cent of it. It is pretty dire. Not only is all this plastic endangering our marine wildlife but the University of Newcastle recently discovered that most people are consuming up to 2,000 tiny pieces of plastic every week as a direct result of our own pollution. I think the member for Adelaide's face is appropriately disgusted by that fact.
South Australia has a proud history of being a nation and often a global leader in environmental protection and action on climate change. In 2009, we were the first state to ban plastic bags and, from March last year, we completely phased out the use of single-use plastic straws, stirrers and cutlery. We must continue to build upon this legacy, demonstrating the power of government in protecting our environment and combating climate change, while also encouraging individual consumers, workers and businesses to make environmentally positive choices without impacting their cost of living.
This bill will allow consumers to bring their own containers to purchase food—like olives—and reduce our reliance on disposable food packaging. The liability for bringing such a container will sit with the consumer rather than the business, ensuring that businesses that act in good faith and best practice will be exempt from any associated liability if something were to go wrong as a result of the BYO container. This shift in liability provides workers and businesses with the confidence to allow their consumers this choice, reducing business costs and encouraging less and less usage of single-use plastics.
Whether or not you are picking up a favourite breakfast roll or avo on rye from Our Food Project in Daw Park or a big brekky roll or nasi goreng from Sublime Cafe in Clarence Park, so long as these businesses decide to participate—and I am fairly sure they will, but if they do not, I am coming for you guys—you can do so with your own BYO container.
I was so glad to hear the member for Black declare this bill would receive bipartisan support in this place and look forward to its successful passage to deliver such a single and effective change to the people and environment of South Australia. I am also really looking forward to our potentially getting some Indian or Thai on Friday nights instead of our usual pizza. Thank you.
