From today 1 September, plastic stemmed cotton buds, plastic microbeads and polystyrene loose fill packaging will be banned in Queensland. The plastics used in these products are all problem wastes and alternatives exist for all these items. It will be interesting to see how the loose fill polystyrene packaging rules work, given that these are not national requirements. Certainly suppliers in Queensland will not be able to use polystyrene for Queensland customers.

Ocean bound plastic refers to plastic usually collected from unregulated landfills, dumps or litter collected within 50 kms of the coast. The average person is more likely to conclude it must be plastic litter picked up from the oceans or beaches. It is not. And because it's mixed plastics and very likely contaminated with toxins, it can't be used for food grade products. 

Our colleagues at Tangaroa Blue have lodged a complaint with the ACCC about this matter, and we welcome their action.

Read the full article on ABC News website

The Total Environment Centre have published an OMNIPOLL survey that shows that 9 in 10 Australians support the inclusion of wine and spirit bottles in container refund schemes.

When it comes to plastic pollution, seabirds are the canaries in the coalmine. But are the two major parties at this election really taking notice?

In 2009, South Australia was the first Australian state to ban lightweight plastic bags. Since then, other jurisdictions have followed. The bans led to a very significant decrease in plastic bag litter, in some states over 70%. They have also helped change shopping habits with the major supermarkets estimating that 70-80% of customers use their own bags.

In 2018, Australian states and territories decided to investigate options to deal with thicker, heavyweight plastic shopping bags. At the time they estimated that over 900 million were being provided. That investigation did not lead anywhere until the Western Australian Government announced a ban on heavyweight plastic shopping bags from July 2022.

Consequently Woolworths has announced that they will not be providing heavyweight plastic bags in WA. The problem is that they plan to switch to selling paper bags instead. Paper bags may solve a plastic problem, but they still use resources and energy in their manufacture, and they are certainly not reusable. What is needed is a switch to genuinely reusable shopping bags so that the norm is that all shoppers use their own bags.

The Boomerang Alliance and our allies have released our national Heavyweight Shopping Bag Plan that seeks to achieve exactly that outcome. Our plan (and you can download a copy here) calls for regulations to eliminate single-use shopping bags and switch to only reusable bags within two years:

1. Only Reusable Bags can be sold by retailers.
   
   
2. A Reusable Bag is one that can be used multiple times for the purpose of shopping. Multiple times means a minimum of 125 round trips holding up to a specified maximum weight. The bag should be made of recycled materials and be able to be collected and recycled at the end of its life. Its performance must be credibly tested.
   
   
3. Current thick plastic bags (usually sold for 15 cents) must be phased-out with a minimum $1 charged for their purchase in the meantime.

Back to March 2022 Newsletter page >>

In our submission on the Northern Territory Draft Circular Economy Strategy 2022-27, the Boomerang Alliance has welcomed the NT Government seeking to develop a circular economy on waste and resource recovery.

The Boomerang Alliance of 56 NGOs has welcomed the announcement of consultation on a second nation leading tranche of single use plastic items to be banned in Queensland. These items include problem plastics habitually littered or landfilled and polluting the marine environment.

In a shocking exercise of corporate irresponsibility, BIG W has continued to sell banned single-use plastics in Queensland. They have greenwashed previous one-off items as "reusable", when the clear intent of the law is to remove them from supermarket shelves - to be replaced with genuinely reusable items.

Commonwealth, State and Territory Environment Ministers have, at last, formally supported the phase-out certain single use, problem plastics. Their list for phase-out includes lightweight plastics bags, oxo-degradable plastics, straws, cutlery and expanded polystyrene packaging and containers and plastic microbeads before 2025. (MEM Communique 15 April 2021)

Did you know we use over 10 million plastic straws every day. Most are used for about 15 minutes and then thrown away either as waste or litter.

The Queensland Government has announced plans to introduce legislation to phase out certain plastic products and released a 'regulatory impact statement' (RIS) for public review. In the first stage of the phase-out, plastic straws, stirrers, cutlery and plates would not be allowed to be supplied to the public from July 2021. The phase-out may include, after further analysis, coffee cups, other plastics and heavyweight plastic bags.

You can see the RIS and comment at:

https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/pollution/management/waste/recovery/reduction/plastic-pollution/reducing-plastic. There is a short survey you can take on-line, or use the submission below - closing date 15 April 2020.

The government is assessing four choices to eliminate these plastic products - (1) Maintain the status quo (2) Ban these products from use (3) Implement a state-wide education campaign (4) Provide more litter collection.

Boomerang Alliance says there is only one option - Ban these products (2). There are available and preferred options for all of them, and, as the plastic bag ban has shown, litter will be drastically reduced. In the first year of the lightweight plastic bag ban, plastic bag litter reduced by 70%.

Did you know that a recent international IPSOS ‘Throwaway World’ poll on attitudes to single use plastics found that 69% of Australians favoured a ban on single use plastics, and as soon as possible.

Email your submission (template below) to: [email protected]

or post to:

Single Use Plastic Consultation
Department of Environment and Science
Office of Resource Recovery

PO Box 2454
BRISBANE 4001

SUBMISSION TEMPLATE

I support a Queensland ban on plastic straws, stirrers, cutlery and plates, with coffee cups, other plastic items and heavyweight shopping bags added as soon as possible (taking into account the needs of people with a disability). This is the most effective way to reduce plastic litter and reduce the terrible impact on wildlife from plastic pollution.

There are preferred alternatives to all these products that include not using them or having reusable products instead. If the Government plans to allow compostable alternatives, these should be required to meet the Australian compost standards for this type of packaging (AS 4736-commercial AS 5810-home).

The governments has NOT included polystyrene cups or polystyrene containers such as clam shells in the first stage of the phase-out. These polystyrene items should be included now. They are a particularly bad litter problem, have plenty of alternatives and we note that polystyrene products are included in similar proposed bans in South Australia and the ACT.

Your name and address (and signature if posting)

Back to March 2020 Newsletter page >>

REDUCING SINGLE USE PLASTICS IN NEW SOUTH WALES: You spoke - will they listen?

The NSW government released a discussion paper Cleaning Up Our Act: Redirecting the Future Plastics in NSW on 8 March 2020. The paper sought public views on what action NSW should be taking to address plastic pollution in the State. Submissions closed on 8 May 2020.

Most countries, including Australia, have recognised the threats posed by marine plastic litter. Estimates show that at current rates of littering there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050 (by weight).¹ In Australia, the CSIRO calculate that ‘two thirds of the marine debris found along our coastline is plastic, most from local sources.^’2

Plastic packaging is routinely in the top 5 littered items in both the National Litter Index and Clean Up Australia reports. The most recent Clean Up Australia  (2018) report estimates that 39% of all litter is plastic. If left uncollected that plastic will break up into microplastics, threaten wildlife that consume it and potentially enter the human food chain.

There are alternatives to single use plastic takeaway products. The primary option being to avoid single use items in favour of reusable food ware. If not possible, 100% compostable packaging is an available option. Fully compostable packaging is not derived from fossil fuels unlike other plastics.

Many food outlets, markets and public events right around Australia have already changed their practices and reduced their plastic footprint, through these practices.

‘The Boomerang Alliance believes after banning lightweight plastic bags and introducing a deposit scheme for drinks containers, the phase-out of single use plastics is the next step in reducing plastic pollution and litter.

As the largest component of litter, removing many single-use plastics will cut litter collection costs to Commonwealth, State and local Governments. Boomerang Alliance estimate that cost to be approximately $500 M spent annually on litter clean-ups.³

There are also the additional unrecognised costs associated with community litter clean ups, and the efforts made by ordinary Australians over a quarter of a century.

As the late Ian Kiernan AO stated at Clean Up Australia’s 2015 report, ‘ After 25 years of solid work by hundreds of thousands of citizens, it's about time for their government to acknowledge the efforts of these volunteers and demonstrate some leadership by stopping plastics and containers being discarded in the first place.’

The Commonwealth and all State and Territory jurisdictions have agreed to having all packaging reusable, compostable or recyclable by 2025. The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) have a target of 70% of packaging actually composted or recycled by 2025.

Action, the next step

To meet these targets, the Commonwealth needs to act now and set a schedule to achieve those outcomes.  In ‘away from home’ circumstances, the most obvious and achievable policy setting is to support reusable and compostable practices and set a phase-out date for single use plastics that do not meet those requirements.

Australia has supported the UN Environment Program to reduce Marine Debris and needs to lead by example, assisting and lobbying others in our region to change practices. This cannot be done without a domestic policy shift on single use plastics.

Internationally, countries and corporations are moving towards removing single use plastics. These practice changes need to be supported and regulated by Government to ensure they are achieved. Many international brands have promised to change practices to achieve packaging goals including 100% recycled content. They include Mars, Unilever, Pepsi, Coke, Nestle’, L’Oréal and Colgate-Palmolive. Most recently Coca Cola stopped supplying customers with plastic straws, as part of this practice shift.

This year,  the European Union announced an intention to ban a range of single use plastics by 2021. Over 25 cities and regions around the world have already acted to remove  single use plastics, in addition to plastic bags. Etihad Airlines recently flew its first plastic free long distance flight.

In Australia, the recent encouraging trend has been the ban plastics bags in most jurisdictions, with only NSW currently resisting. Major retailers have already acted to remove lightweight plastic bags, which has contributed to an estimated 80% reduction in lightweight plastic bag use (from 2017).  There are some questions however if the alternative heavier weight bags are reused by most shoppers, as intended.

Most states and territories have introduced a container deposit scheme for drink containers. These schemes are proving that litter rates significantly reduce when they are put in place. In NSW, Return and Earn is responsible for an estimated 33% reduction in beverage litter and in QLD litter surveys indicate a 35% decrease in beverage container litter since the introduction of the CRS. In South Australia, which has had a CDS since 1977, litter rates are generally less by a factor of three compared to other States⁴

Some states and territories are now considering their next steps in addressing litter and plastic wastes. Both South Australia and Western Australia are publicly canvassing plans to phase-out single use plastics. Most other jurisdictions are reviewing their own future policies with a single-use plastics phase-out a key consideration. Local governments from Cairns to Hobart are already acting. Many local authorities and public events have introduced plastic free events policies to reduce plastic use, litter and waste.

The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) and the Boomerang Alliance have formed a partnership to develop a Plastic Free Places community program to promote the switch away from single use plastic takeaway. The partnership is based upon a successful model developed in Noosa and extended to Byron Bay (NSW) and Bassendean (WA). This has demonstrated that the hospitality sector is able to play a positive role in reducing plastics and has willingly switched to alternatives. The Noosa project has removed nearly 3 million single use plastic items in 13 months of operation and continues to expand. Other community programs have produced similar results.

Commonwealth must play a role

The global trend and one that needs to be rapidly expanded  in Australia is  the phase-out of single use plastic takeaway items. To achieve the national targets set for packaging requires us to act now.

Australia can make a big leap forward if the next Commonwealth Government, with the support of other political parties, set a date for the phase-out of a range of single use plastic takeaway items commonly found in litter and waste streams.

The Boomerang Alliance has identified 6 items that should be included in a phase out: coffee cups and lids, straws, cutlery, cups and containers, plastic bags and plastic water bottles. All have readily available alternatives and, as many citizens and businesses are proving, the community is ready to change, if the Commonwealth sets the policy agenda.

We don’t accept that enough is being done but a start has been made at this election. We framed our key election asks as Saving Recycling and Phasing-out Single Use Plastics. As at 6 May we have promises from all the key parties to support and invest in recycling. We need similar promises on single use plastics.

To date Labor policies state the party is ‘open to extending phase-outs to single use plastics’. The Greens have committed to this policy by 2025. The Coalition has not made any statement.

¹ Ellen Macarthur New plastic Economy Report 2016

²  Understanding the effects of marine debris on wildlife CSIRO study 2014

³  Turn Back the Toxic Tide Report-Boomerang Alliance/Dave West 2016

⁴  Understanding the effects of marine debris on wildlife CSIRO study 2014

Authorised by Jeff Angel, Boomerang Alliance, 99 Devonshire St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010

Most countries, including Australia, have recognised the threats posed by marine plastic litter. Estimates show that at current rates of littering there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050 (by weight).¹ In Australia, the CSIRO calculate that ‘two thirds of the marine debris found along our coastline is plastic, most from local sources.^’2

Plastic packaging is routinely in the top 5 littered items in both the National Litter Index and Clean Up Australia reports. The most recent Clean Up Australia  (2018) report estimates that 39% of all litter is plastic. If left uncollected that plastic will break up into microplastics, threaten wildlife that consume it and potentially enter the human food chain.

There are alternatives to single use plastic takeaway products. The primary option being to avoid single use items in favour of reusable food ware. If not possible, 100% compostable packaging is an available option. Fully compostable packaging is not derived from fossil fuels unlike other plastics.

Many food outlets, markets and public events right around Australia have already changed their practices and reduced their plastic footprint, through these practices.

‘The Boomerang Alliance believes after banning lightweight plastic bags and introducing a deposit scheme for drinks containers, the phase-out of single use plastics is the next step in reducing plastic pollution and litter.

As the largest component of litter, removing many single-use plastics will cut litter collection costs to Commonwealth, State and local Governments. Boomerang Alliance estimate that cost to be approximately $500 M spent annually on litter clean-ups.³

There are also the additional unrecognised costs associated with community litter clean ups, and the efforts made by ordinary Australians over a quarter of a century.

As the late Ian Kiernan AO stated at Clean Up Australia’s 2015 report, ‘ After 25 years of solid work by hundreds of thousands of citizens, it's about time for their government to acknowledge the efforts of these volunteers and demonstrate some leadership by stopping plastics and containers being discarded in the first place.’

The Commonwealth and all State and Territory jurisdictions have agreed to having all packaging reusable, compostable or recyclable by 2025. The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) have a target of 70% of packaging actually composted or recycled by 2025.

Action, the next step

To meet these targets, the Commonwealth needs to act now and set a schedule to achieve those outcomes.  In ‘away from home’ circumstances, the most obvious and achievable policy setting is to support reusable and compostable practices and set a phase-out date for single use plastics that do not meet those requirements.

Australia has supported the UN Environment Program to reduce Marine Debris and needs to lead by example, assisting and lobbying others in our region to change practices. This cannot be done without a domestic policy shift on single use plastics.

Internationally, countries and corporations are moving towards removing single use plastics. These practice changes need to be supported and regulated by Government to ensure they are achieved. Many international brands have promised to change practices to achieve packaging goals including 100% recycled content. They include Mars, Unilever, Pepsi, Coke, Nestle’, L’Oréal and Colgate-Palmolive. Most recently Coca Cola stopped supplying customers with plastic straws, as part of this practice shift.

This year,  the European Union announced an intention to ban a range of single use plastics by 2021. Over 25 cities and regions around the world have already acted to remove  single use plastics, in addition to plastic bags. Etihad Airlines recently flew its first plastic free long distance flight.

In Australia, the recent encouraging trend has been the ban plastics bags in most jurisdictions, with only NSW currently resisting. Major retailers have already acted to remove lightweight plastic bags, which has contributed to an estimated 80% reduction in lightweight plastic bag use (from 2017).  There are some questions however if the alternative heavier weight bags are reused by most shoppers, as intended.

Most states and territories have introduced a container deposit scheme for drink containers. These schemes are proving that litter rates significantly reduce when they are put in place. In NSW, Return and Earn is responsible for an estimated 33% reduction in beverage litter and in QLD litter surveys indicate a 35% decrease in beverage container litter since the introduction of the CRS. In South Australia, which has had a CDS since 1977, litter rates are generally less by a factor of three compared to other States⁴

Some states and territories are now considering their next steps in addressing litter and plastic wastes. Both South Australia and Western Australia are publicly canvassing plans to phase-out single use plastics. Most other jurisdictions are reviewing their own future policies with a single-use plastics phase-out a key consideration. Local governments from Cairns to Hobart are already acting. Many local authorities and public events have introduced plastic free events policies to reduce plastic use, litter and waste.

The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) and the Boomerang Alliance have formed a partnership to develop a Plastic Free Places community program to promote the switch away from single use plastic takeaway. The partnership is based upon a successful model developed in Noosa and extended to Byron Bay (NSW) and Bassendean (WA). This has demonstrated that the hospitality sector is able to play a positive role in reducing plastics and has willingly switched to alternatives. The Noosa project has removed nearly 3 million single use plastic items in 13 months of operation and continues to expand. Other community programs have produced similar results.

Commonwealth must play a role

The global trend and one that needs to be rapidly expanded  in Australia is  the phase-out of single use plastic takeaway items. To achieve the national targets set for packaging requires us to act now.

Australia can make a big leap forward if the next Commonwealth Government, with the support of other political parties, set a date for the phase-out of a range of single use plastic takeaway items commonly found in litter and waste streams.

The Boomerang Alliance has identified 6 items that should be included in a phase out: coffee cups and lids, straws, cutlery, cups and containers, plastic bags and plastic water bottles. All have readily available alternatives and, as many citizens and businesses are proving, the community is ready to change, if the Commonwealth sets the policy agenda.

We don’t accept that enough is being done but a start has been made at this election. We framed our key election asks as Saving Recycling and Phasing-out Single Use Plastics. As at 6 May we have promises from all the key parties to support and invest in recycling. We need similar promises on single use plastics.

To date Labor policies state the party is ‘open to extending phase-outs to single use plastics’. The Greens have committed to this policy by 2025. The Coalition has not made any statement.

¹ Ellen Macarthur New plastic Economy Report 2016

²  Understanding the effects of marine debris on wildlife CSIRO study 2014

³  Turn Back the Toxic Tide Report-Boomerang Alliance/Dave West 2016

⁴  Understanding the effects of marine debris on wildlife CSIRO study 2014

Authorised by Jeff Angel, Boomerang Alliance, 99 Devonshire St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010

We produce too much waste and do too little recycling in Australia.  A National Recycling Industry Development Program would boost the economy and create jobs across the nation.

After China implemented tighter restrictions on the import of Australian plastic and other waste and other nations followed suit, it is now Australia’s responsibility to manage its own waste. We could also be a world leader in implementing a circular economy and cleaning up the plastics contaminating our oceans. 

Did you know despite one of the highest GDPs per capita, Australia lands in 17th place for the global recycling rank and our current rates are stagnant¹? Councils say a “lack of funding, coupled with rock-bottom recycling prices, is hampering efforts to build better infrastructure and reinvigorate a dying market². If Australia is to increase its recycling rate and help the plastic waste crisis, two critical policies will need to be implemented: (1) funding for a recycling industry and (2) mandating a “Buy Recycled” program for product manufacturers. 

Recycling has been shown to be more economically profitable than landfilling. A survey by Access Economics in 2009, estimated that 9.2 employees were directly employed in the recycling sector for every 10,000 tonnes of waste in Australia, compared to 2.8 directly employed with landfill³. In Victoria alone, an increase in recycling of 80% would create 2,310 jobs⁴. However, due to the lack of recycling infrastructure, recyclable material is currently being stockpiled, dumped, imported into Asian countries illegally, incinerated…just wasted!⁵

Boomerang Alliance is calling for a minimum of $150 million to support a growing domestic recycling industry, including to improve infrastructure for the reprocessing of greater quantities of plastics. 

In addition, Australia needs to build a market for the re-manufactured recycled material. Due to low oil and gas prices, virgin plastic is usually cheaper than its recycled counterpart.  Australia should achieve a 30% average recycled content in products by 2025 - but packaging manufacturers need an incentive to work towards this goal. The best way to create that demand is through a “Buy Recycled” scheme that makes the production of plastic from recycled material cheaper and more necessary than virgin plastics. For example in France, where it is proposed to impose a tax on virgin plastics⁶. We can also impose recycled content requirements as has been done in the EU. 

This won’t be easy to navigate through the political decision process. Taxes and regulation are not popular with business and some political parties.  But it must be done and community support will be vital.  We confronted the same opposition when campaigning for a container deposit system. Eventually the community won and now litter is dramatically down and many more bottles are being recycled with hundreds of new jobs. Australia needs an assured path that will deliver an efficient and productive local industry to recycle plastic and contribute to an economically and environmentally sustainable future. 

https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/dc87fd71-6bcb-4135-b916-71dd349fc0b8/files/australian-recycling-sector.pdf

¹ Gray, Alex. “Germany Recycles More than Any Other Country.” World Economic Forum, 2017, www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/12/germany-recycles-more-than-any-other-country/.

² Towie, Narelle. “One Year on: Where Is Australia's Recycling Going Now?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 28 Jan. 2019, www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/29/one-year-on-where-is-australias-recycling-going-now.

³ Access Economics 2009, Employment in waste management and recycling, July 2009

⁴ Environment Victoria Annual Report 2009-2010.” Environment Victoria , 2010, environmentvictoria.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Environment-Victoria-Annual-Report-2009-2010.pdf

⁵ Towie, Narelle. “One Year on: Where Is Australia's Recycling Going Now?” 2019

⁶ Rush, Claire. “France Announces New Consumer Incentive to Reduce Plastic Waste.” RFI: The World and All It’s Voices, RFI, 12 Aug. 2018, en.rfi.fr/france/20180812-france-announces-new-consumer-incentive-reduce-plastic-waste.

Fantastic news today! The Queensland Government has just announced the introduction of a ban on single use, lightweight plastic bags. This is a significant step forward in reducing plastic litter and its impact upon native and marine wildlife. Plastic bags in particular are a problem for birds and marine animals that often mistake these for food or get entangled in them. They also break up into microplastics that enter the marine food chain and onto our dinner plates.

The proposed Queensland ban will follow similar bans already in place in South Australia, ACT, Northern Territory and Tasmania but Queensland has taken it a step further with inclusion of so-called degradable and biodegradable plastic bags in the ban. These also break up into dangerous microplastics that enter the food chain.

We call on NSW and Victoria to join in – already well-over one billion bags have been littered in the last 10 years through their inaction.  NSW is the worst laggard.

Toby Hutcheon, Queensland Manager

& Jeff Angel, Director

Boomerang Alliance and our partners have been out and about on the Gold & Sunshine Coasts and Bribie Island over the summer to promote Cash for Containers in Queensland. We have partnered with Wildlife Queensland, the Surfrider Foundation, Noosa Biosphere Association, Gecko (Gold Coast and Hinterland Environment Council) and the Sunshine Coast Environment Council - and many, many community activists, to make C4C a big issue to put pressure on state and local politicians from all parties to support the program.

The Queensland Government has now established two Advisory Committees to assist in the development of a cash for containers scheme and possible plastic packaging bans. I have been appointed on to both committees. We expect that the State Government will be asking the public what they think about these measures, within the next six months.