“Plastic pollution is a global problem and it’s going to require global solutions,” Plibersek said. “We need to work hard and we need to work together. No one nation can solve the problem alone.”
Australia has also committed to the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment,along with 500 major companies,organisations and countries,to ensure 100 per cent of plastic packaging is recyclable,reusable or compostable.
In joining the High Ambition Coalition,Plibersek opted not to join a last-minute push by the US aimed at setting voluntary targets for individual nations,as opposed to the international targets under the coalition.
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Reuters reported in September that the US has invited Australia and Japan to join it in a treaty based on the country-driven approach to pollution targets.
WWF-Australia plastics policy manager Kate Noble welcomed the government’s decision to sign up to a global treaty instead of voluntary targets but said it would be an “incredibly complicated process,and one of the most ambitious environmental agreements embarked on by the world to date”.
“If we ended up with a treaty that’s largely based on voluntary arrangements in the next two years,we will not have succeeded and we won’t achieve the objective that all countries have already signed up to,which is ending plastic pollution.”