How Australia is seeing a 'big shift' on plastic waste

How Australia is seeing a 'big shift' on plastic waste

On Tuesday, Australia takes another step towards reshaping its throw-away society.

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A range of single-use plastic, including straws, cutlery and micro beads in shampoo, will be banned in its most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), in a bid to reduce waste.

"Australia has been very active over the last few years in moving to ban single-use plastics. We now have bans in place in over half of Australia's states and territories," says Shane Cucow, the plastics campaign manager at the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

"It's been incredible progress considering just two years ago not a single state and territory had banned single-use plastics."

Australia has complex record with plastic waste. Though it has long been accused of inaction, the country has also seen celebrated examples of leadership.

One of the forefathers of the anti-waste movement was Ian Kiernan, a Sydney-born property developer who became a professional yachtsman.

In the 1980s, he had an environmental epiphany in the waters of the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean during a solo race around the world.

"He was horrified by the amount of pollution, particularly plastic," explains one of his daughters, Pip. "So, that was the impetus to come back and do something about it."

In 1989, Ian Kiernan launched Clean Up Sydney Harbour, a community effort to tackle litter in one of the world's most famous waterways.

"He was worrying that no-one would turn up, but 40,000 Sydneysiders turned up," Ms Kiernan tells the BBC.