The ACT Government continues to work on reducing the environmental impact caused by single-use plastics and other problematic products. These products are extremely harmful to the environment and don’t break down completely in landfill.

Since 2021, a number of single-use plastic products have been banned in the ACT under the Circular Economy Act 2023. Phasing out more items supports the community and businesses towards taking more sustainable options by encouraging the uptake of better alternatives and avoiding unnecessary plastic waste.

You can find out more in the Problematic Products and Single-Use Plastic Reduction Discussion Paper, which identifies 14 items for potential future phase-out.

We are seeking community, local businesses and industry views on:

• whether there is support on reducing or phasing out more single-use plastics and problematic products;
• what helps or makes it harder to effectively transition away from a single-use culture, towards normalising reuse in the ACT;
• what actions the ACT Government should take to reduce problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic products.

You can have your say by either completing the survey below or sending a written submission to singleuseplastics@act.gov.au. Consultation closes at 5pm, Friday 1 May 2026.

The ACT Government has taken action to reduce plastic waste in the Territory since 2011, when we first introduced a ban on lightweight plastic shopping bags.

In March 2021, the Plastic Reduction Act 2021 was introduced, and the bans on additional items commenced on 1 July 2021. Two Next Steps policy documents have previously been published outlining an indicative path forward for single-use plastics, ‘Phasing out single-use plastics: Updated Next Steps Policy 2020’ and ‘Phasing out single-use plastics – Next Steps November 2021’. The ‘Banned single-use plastic items in the ACT’ infographic summarises the timeline of the successful phase-out of single-use plastic items in the ACT to date.

In 2023, the ACT Government introduced the ACT Circular Economy Strategy and Action Plan 2023- 2030 and the Circular Economy Act 2023, which repealed the Plastic Reduction Act 2021 and absorbed its regulatory powers to ban single-use plastics and other problematic items. The Act provides a framework to transition the ACT towards a circular economy where waste is minimised and resources are kept in circulation for as long as possible. This includes avoiding problematic products where possible, using reusable alternatives, and participating in reuse and repair schemes so that resources can be shared and kept in circulation.

Our vision is to continue positioning the ACT as a leader in plastic reduction and the circular economy by providing a framework for acting on emerging problematic waste streams. This work, along with other actions being led by the ACT Government, is progressing the growth of the circular economy, where the community, industry and businesses rethink resource use and eliminate unnecessary or problematic waste.

Your input will be used to develop a new ACT plastic reduction plan and guide the transition to more sustainable alternatives, in line with circular economy principles and legislation.