eBay is prohibiting the sale of single use plastic in Australia next month. It referred to the Australia National Retail Association, which made clear the likely impetus behind eBay’s new policy, noting on its website that the governments of multiple states and territories in that country are implementing or considering bans on a range of plastic items.
eBay Australia listed the following items as being covered by the ban:
- Checkout bags for groceries and other goods
- Cutlery such as forks, knives and spoons
- Straws and stirrers
- Food and beverage containers, plates and lids
- Cigarette filters
- Cotton bud sticks
- Balloon sticks and ties
- Wet wipes for personal care and cleaning
- Sanitary towels, tampons and tampon applicators that contain plastic
- Non-biodegradable plastic tea bags
- Confetti
eBay Australia stated reusable and sustainable alternative products are allowed for sale on its marketplace. It included the following actions it might take if it finds sellers in violation of the policy:
“Administratively ending listings or cancelling transactions, hiding or lowering the placement of listings in search results, lowering seller rating, restricting buying or selling, forfeiture of fees, loss of buyer or seller protections, restricting access to member communication and rating tools, removing Feedback, and account suspension.”
eBay published the new policy on its site on August 22, 2023, and said, “We will be communicating before then with sellers whose listings are affected by the new policy.”
eBay had informed sellers in January of the plastics ban by certain governments and advised them to comply with the laws and referred them to the NRA retail organization to learn more.
Australia is banning the sale of tampons and one use pads? Do they make multiple use pads? This is what happens when you give up your freedom for security.
It isn’t giving up freedom for security…..like huh? It is caring for the planet, and reducing the amount of rubbish produced. Aiming for reusable and recyclable only. And I think it is a great idea – nothing worse than purchasing goods to find that the plastic casing is non-recyclable and will just become landfill.
This is not out of the blue – sellers have been given ample notice (over 2 years ago).
The list includes;
lightweight plastic bags
plastic products misleadingly termed as ‘degradable’
plastic straws
plastic utensils and stirrers
coffee cups containing plastic
cotton bud sticks
plastic takeaway containers
expanded polystyrene (EPS) food containers (e.g. cups and clamshells)
EPS consumer goods packaging (loose fill and moulded)
microbeads in personal health care products
Even though they contain microbeads, regular disposable period pads are still not a part of the ban. And it is “plastic tampon applicators” – not tampons (although looking at ebay’s history, the bots no doubt wont know the difference).
So just ebay being ebay and jumping on the bandwagon without reading the details.
Shanna, from what I read in the article, it’s the ones that contain PLASTIC. I’m not sure how many do not. And exactly how are take out meals supposed to work if no cutlery is supplied? Are people supposed to keep a spare set of stainless in the glove compartment? At least in the tampon department, my suggestion to Aussie ladies is keep your legs crossed until the men figure out a workable solution !!!!!!
That said, NOBODY asked me years ago if I wanted to switch from glass to plastic food containers, which often have leached chemicals into the food. “Big Business” changed because plastic was cheaper in a number of respects and of course wouldn’t break like glass. I have never wanted plastic around my food – !! and would gladly pay more for GLASS containers, like mayonnaise jars as one example. As it stands now as soon as I get them home I switch the contents to glass and recycle the plastic (hoping for the best).