Single-use Plastic Ban Business Engagement
The Project
During the second half of 2022, Geelong Sustainability was engaged by Sustainability Victoria to directly engage with businesses across the Barwon South West region regarding the upcoming Single-use Plastic ban as tasked by the leading body, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. The purpose of this engagement was to inform businesses about the ban, ensure they were ready for it, answer any questions about the ban, provide additional information about alternatives, encourage conversations about reusables, and collect survey data for Sustainability Victoria.
The Results
The target set by the program was to approach 750 businesses and survey them where possible. We were able to speak with 828 businesses in total, with 693 of these completing the full survey. The majority of businesses surveyed were in the City of Greater Geelong, which corresponds with Geelong’s higher population in proportion to the region - 62%.
The program was highly successful, particularly the use of face-to-face engagement. Given the daily commitments and busy schedules of small business owners, there is simply no other way to reach them effectively, which was demonstrated by the fact that 58% of businesses had not heard about the ban until we approached them.