A popular café on The Parade, Norwood has become the first business in South Australia to go plastic-free.
Brick+Mortar Creative has been announced as the first business in the state to officially go ‘plastic-free’ as part of the South Australian Government’s plastic-free precincts pilot program. The popular coffee spot has replaced its single use plastics like lids, cutlery, coffee cups, straws and takeaway containers, moving to reusable or compostable items.
Mayor of the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters, Robert Bria, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for a local small business and a step towards environmental sustainability for our City as a whole.
“I’m extremely proud that businesses of The Parade are leading the move to become a ‘plastic-free’ precinct. It’s a challenging proposal, but Brick+Mortar Creative has shown it can be done.
“Congratulations to Brick+Mortar Creative on becoming the first business to ban single-use plastics in South Australia. I encourage other local businesses to follow their lead.”
The announcement was made by Minister for Environment and Water, David Spiers, on Saturday when draft legislation on the ban of single-use plastics was also released for consultation.
“Ever since we announced our first single-use plastic free precincts including The Parade, Norwood; Jetty Road, Brighton; Adelaide Central Markets; and Surf Life Saving South Australia, businesses in these areas have been working towards going plastic-free with help from Boomerang Alliance.
“I congratulate Brick+Mortar Creative on being the first business in South Australia to officially go plastic-free and look forward to others joining them soon”, said Minister Spiers.
Brick+Mortar Creative director Elizabeth Donaldson said a collaborative effort by business, consumers and government is vital to share the cost and spread the benefit of making a city sustainable.
“As a small business owner, I feel it’s my social responsibility to minimise our environmental impact, and we do that through composting the organic waste from our café, only using compostable packaging and recycling our containers,” said Ms Donaldson.
Boomerang Alliance Director Jeff Angel commended Brick+Mortar Creative on embracing the challenge rather than shying away from doing things differently.
“Boomerang Alliance have run our Plastic Free Places program in Noosa (Queensland), Perth (Western Australia) and Byron (NSW). We can see South Australia is continuing to lead not just nationally but internationally when it comes to container deposits, the plastic bag ban, and now the will to act on legislating to ban single use plastics,” said Mr Angel.
