A new campaign called We Care will focus on reducing the big five; plastic straws, plastic cutlery, plastic takeaway containers, disposable coffee cups, and plastic bags.

Courtney Fink-Downes from Council’s environment team said plenty of busy business owners want to make it easy for their customers to do the right thing, but it can be difficult to get started.

“The number of consumers who value businesses that make environmentally conscious choices is growing every year,” she said.

“We want to make it easy for local food businesses to meet that need and We Care can help. 

“We’ll work with business owners to assess their individual challenges when it comes to plastic products, how to overcome them, and how to source sustainable alternative products and prices.

“We’ll offer trial packs to sample sustainable packaging options, and identify other creative ways where waste can be avoided.

“We also want to hear from food businesses already using environmentally sustainable packaging.

“Get in touch and share your ideas with us.

“You might hold the key to helping another Eurobodalla business make the switch.”

We Care is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and comes hot on the heels of Plastic Free July and Moruya Business Chamber’s BYO Bag campaign.

If you own or manage a Eurobodalla food outlet and want to get help switching to sustainable packaging products, contact Council’s Natural Resource Supervisor Courtney Fink-Downes on 02 4474 7493 or Courtney.fink@esc.nsw.gov.au.

There are many programs focused on reducing single-use plastic in Australia by working with retailers and letting people know where they can find and support sustainable outlets.

Among them are Responsible Cafés: a network of cafés that encourage customers to use reusable coffee cups by offering a discount. Go to www.responsiblecafes.org for more information and details of your closest participating cafes.