The War on Waste continues: Small businesses explain how sustainability is the new customer expectation

In this year’s “war” against businesses and consumers using unnecessary packaging, visuals have been a key piece of arsenal.

It was the image of a tram stuffed with disposable coffee cups on the ABC’s War on Waste program that sparked a frenzy of interest in reusable cups and storage products in June.

War on Waste returned to TV screens this week with a special follow-up episode to the first series, and in the intervening months there has been plenty of movement on policies that steer companies and customers away from practises that result in landfill rather than sustainable consumption.

Plastic bags have been ditched by more states and the big supermarkets have moved to almost-identical policies to eradicate single use carry bags, while this week marks the start of a container-deposit scheme in New South Wales, allowing residents of the state to recoup 10c for every eligible bottle and can dropped off for recycling.

The push for national policies on issues like plastic bags and recycling is on, with War on Waste host Craig Reucassel spending a decent amount of time trying to lobby state premiers, like Victoria’s Daniel Andrews, to adopt the policies of other states. Read more

Emma Koehn - Smart Company - 4 Dec 2017