The Department of Environmental Affairs is currently investigating possible solutions on how to handle the problem of single-use plastics like straws and earbuds.

Speaking on the banning of single-use plastics Mark Gordon, the department’s deputy director-general for chemical and waste management, said these products, like earbuds, straws and stirrers, are considered to be unfriendly to the environment, especially the marine sector.

The department is engaging with industry and consumer bodies around whether to phase out or completely ban plastic these plastic products.

“We have started a discussion document that we have shared with a number of stakeholders and we are in the process of inviting comments around it.

Refuse the straw

Meanwhile as the process unfolds, there has been a rapid increase in the number of consumer awareness campaigns aimed at encouraging members of the public to refuse the straw.

Gordon said a lot of restaurant chains have stopped giving out straws to patrons completely, while others would ask a customer if they wanted a straw.

He said whenever the department does beach clean-ups, earbuds and plastic stirrers featured high up on the list of the waste and added that these posed a great danger to marine species.

Prioritising problem plastics

“So … we are prioritising this. We have identified those five as the priority products that we need to address and we are doing this in a matrix where we look at these products – what are the compostable alternative availability, the cost of the alternative, the market readiness in terms of availability in South Africa – and we are really quantifying every aspect of this to look at its market readiness.

“We are still in consultation with the industry, consumer groups and the retailers on how we could phase out or ban these products and what would be the replacement and alternatives for them,” he said.