www.insidewaste.com.au
ISSUE 108 | JUN/JUL 2022
INSIDE 36 38 48
Queensland waste levies Wine industry action Waste 2022 Conference
Litter Congress OVER two days in April the Litter Congress covered several seminars on litter and its legacy on our land, inner waterways and surrounding oceans. We look at some of the highlights and work being done by many organisations to lessen litter’s impact in Australia.
Cigarette butts
Softly, softly - the troublesome waste stream of soft plastics 2017 because we could no longer ship its mixed recyclables overseas, and while politicians and producers of soft plastics have been saying the right things in terms of what needs to be done, some believe the time for talking is over and it’s time to start doing. Latest estimates from both government and industry show that about four to six per cent of soft plastics are being recycled, while the rest ends up in landfill. One of the issues is that most of Australia’s recycling targets are voluntary. While the likes of Jeff Angel from the Boomerang Alliance are calling for mandatory targets, industries responsible for the production of many soft plastics – especially in food – have been trying to find solutions to lessen the impact of what they see as a necessary packaging product. Whether it be making prototypes
that are compostable or investing in education programs at schools, they know the public is becoming more perceptive about the way their food and beverages are packaged. At the recent Litter Congress held in Sydney, Chris Sutton who is the research and development director for Mars Wrigley Australia, said the company has made a commitment to ensure its packaging has less environmental impact. “In the next three years, all of our packaging will be recyclable, reusable or compostable. In our case, recyclable or reusable in Australia,” he said. “That is what we are focusing on – changing our portfolio of products to make sure they are more sustainable, in that they can be recycled or reused, and at the same time eliminating the need for virgin plastics. (Continued on page 22)
PP: 100024538
ISSN 1837-5618
SOFT plastics are the bane of the waste industry. Hard to collect, a noxious and hazardous substance to the environment, and an item that can take up a lot of time in Material Recovery Facilities when being recycled. Like politics and religion, everybody has an opinion on what should be done about them. But industry sectors are unanimous on two things – something needs to be done about soft plastics and it needs to be done now; and they are an underused resource that can have a myriad of uses if recycled properly. This includes anything from converting it back to its original form oil, through to making it into such things as park benches and bollards, or even putting it into part of the mix when laying bitumen for new roads. Australia’s hand was forced when the China Sword policy started in
Laura Barclay is the managing director of Adaptation Environmental Support. She has been asked by the Tobacco Stewardship Council to put together a National Butt Litter Taskforce to tackle one of the most challenging wastes streams – cigarette butts. It is estimated that of the 11 billion cigarettes smoked in Australia annually, approximately 3.3 billion are littered. Barclay said the industry is challenging in terms of environmental sustainability initiatives due to the restrictions placed on the industry by legislation. Then there is the attempts to try and educate smokers themselves. “In the national litter index, cigarette butts are always number one,” she said. “Where does it end up? It ends up everywhere. How do we address the behaviour? In terms of volume, it is quite small, but that isn’t as important as talking about the littering behaviour that needs to be addressed.” She noted that cigarette butts are coming into the plastics arena and is the number one issue in a lot of overseas environments. They are part of the National and NSW Plastics Plans in terms of dealing with butts as a serious littering/waste issue. (Continued on page 26)
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