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Plastic Waste Reduction

THERE are positive signs voluntary bans on polystyrene in consumer packaging and food products are working, with the amount counted and collected in the nation’s urban rivers and catchments halving in just 12 months, as the Federal Government considers whether to make them mandatory.

Conservation Volunteers Australia said the interim findings send a strong message to global governments and investors ahead of the Australian Government’s Nature Positive Summit next year, particularly for a Nature Repair Market.

Overall, #SeaToSource has seen about 10,000 Australians and 50 of the nation’s largest businesses help count, collect and contain more-than 360,000 litter items –80 per cent of it plastic – from flowing into the nation’s Great Barrier and Southern Reefs since September 2020, despite COVID and flooding.

This included nearly 50,000 pieces of polystyrene nationally (16 per cent). However, in promising signs, polystyrene fell from top spot (21 per cent) in Year 1 (Sep20-Aug21) to fifth (10 per cent) in Year 2 (Sep21-Aug22). Thin plastic bags also remained steady at about 2% of total waste, suggesting bans phased in over the past decade also continued to reduce pressure on the nation’s waterways.