Australia recycles its promise for a better future
On Tuesday 1st November, Australia introduced a ban of single-use plastic in New South Wales in a bid to reduce waste.
Credit: WWF Australia.
By: Derry Salter.
3.4
billion tonnes of plastic is used and thrown away in Australia each year. 30%
of this is single-use. Over half of Australia’s states and territories have a
ban in place for single-use plastic and now its most populous state, New South
Wales, is set to be part of the move to a cleaner future.
Single-use
plastic included in the ban are: straws, drink stirrers, cotton buds, cutlery, polystyrene
take-away containers and micro beads used in shampoo. New South Wales took
their first step in June this year banning lightweight plastic bags, before
taking this massive, but positive, step.
Australian
Marine Conservation Society’s plastic campaign manager Shane Cucow said: ‘It’s
been incredible progress considering just two years ago not a single state and
territory had banned single-use plastics.’
These
news bans will prevent 2.7 billion items of plastic waste from entering the environment
over the next 20 years.
Queensland
and Victoria are both set to follow suit in 2023. This undoubtable step is why
Australia are ranked 7th worldwide for plastic waste management; its
control of plastic pollution is not to be ridiculed. It then ranked 1st
for promoting safe and informed plastic use. But, quickly plummeted to 16th
for efficient collection and sorting of plastic.
Australia’s
relationship with plastic waste is often of debate, some believe they have not
done enough. However, anti-waste pioneers have come from the country. Ian
Kiernan, from Sydney, launched Clean Up Sydney Harbour in 1989 as a community
effort to tackle rubbish in the water. With 40,000 people turning up to help, the
event became annual and is now titled Clean Up Australia Day.
However,
Australia’s bid for a cleaner future is far from over. With plastic packaging recycling
rates still at 16%, Australia is far off its 70% national target. A proposed
five-year roadmap sees the country aim to ban heavyweight plastic shopping bags
which will help reach this goal.