Plibersek said she was forced last week to declare that tyres,mattresses and healthcare products had been placed on the minister’s priority stewardship list,which signals that unless the industry improves,the next “third and final option” is for government to impose mandatory rules.
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Half of all tyre importers don’t contribute funds to the industry’s voluntary product stewardship scheme to recycle and reuse,while 22,000 tonnes a year of mattresses are still piling up in landfill.
“It’s really only as a last resort that we say you’ve had ... multiple chances,you can’t keep dumping this stuff in landfill,we’re prepared to regulate,” Plibersek said.
Operating in about 200 supermarkets,REDcycle ground to a halt about five months ago when a fire at a Melbourne facility halted the processing of plastic bags and other items,which led to the company amassing a stockpile of hundreds of millions of bags and other soft plastic items,instead of recycling it.
WWF-Australia plastics policy manager Kate Noble said Australia’s voluntary recycling targets should be legislated “because no one’s accountable for achieving them”.
Last month,state and federal ministers agreed to new targets for 2025,including making packaging 100 per cent reusable,recyclable or compostable,75 per cent of plastic packaging being recycled or composted,50 per cent of recycled content included in packaging and phasing out unnecessary single-use plastics.
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“The voluntary arrangements that we have are really not working. And kind of what we’ve seen over the past week has underlined what we already knew,” Noble said.
She said polling conducted for WWF showed strong support for stronger regulations,with 86 per cent of Australians supporting reforms to make manufacturers and retailers responsible for reducing and recycling plastic packaging and 77 per cent backing an immediate ban on single-use plastics.
Noble said Australia should follow the European Union’s moves to reduce waste and boost recycling.
It has new rules to force companies to use plastics easier to recycle and boost the amount of recycled material used in production of goods. It is also developing laws under its Circular Economy plan that would regulate the types of products that can be sold,so goods can be repaired or reused,rather than thrown away if they break.
Noble said recycling and waste reduction were popular with the public because it could deliver economic outcomes.
“It can stimulate innovation like with Airbnb and other businesses that have come from the sharing economy – there’s a lot of cash to be made in that space.”
Plibersek said the federal government would invest in research and development to boost Australia’s circular economy.
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“For every job you create,if you’re dumping stuff in the tip,you create three jobs if you’re recycling,” she said.
“We’ve got the scientists,we’ve got the engineers,we’ve got the technicians,we’ve got the materials – we’ve got people who know how to keep these precious resources in circulation.”
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