Send a message to the Federal Minister Tanya Plibersek and urge her to take action - message template at the bottom of this page.
The collapse of REDcycle, has revealed a deep problem with plastic in Australia.
It was a voluntary scheme for soft plastics collection and recycling acclaimed by the supermarkets and food sector who used it to brand their packaging. The industry group, Australian Packaging Covenant and government agencies held it up as proof of action.
But now we know the real story.
It was a public relations tactic to forestall a comprehensive approach to plastic packaging backed up by regulation. Despite the undoubted desire of REDcycle’s managers to make a bigger impact – the food sector left it microscopic only collecting a tiny per cent. In the words of the NSW EPA [2022] REDcycle was a "small scheme" and "…unable to process even this small fraction [that] demonstrates that the market for post-consumer recycled soft plastic is weak and that far too much waste is being generated."The National Plastics Action Plan (endorsed by the industry) has three 2025 targets:
- 100% recyclability, compostability or reusability
- 70% actually recycled or composted
- 20% recycled plastic content.
With industry and government now admitting that Australia is in danger of not reaching its 2025 targets – they are on notice to take action.
But will they?
Instead some key players are discussing changing the target! How about 2030?
We can’t let this happen, subjecting the environment to many more years of toxic plastic pollution and waste. Industry needs to be held to account and our campaign – don’t go soft on plastics – is doing just that. We have released two action plans – Plan B for all plastics and The Household Soft Plastics Plan.
We are working with the community, recyclers and plastic free campaigners to bring pressure to bear on local, state and national governments and the packaging sector to deliver less plastic and less waste.
You can help by sending an email to the Federal Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek using our template below.
Please support our campaign by following Boomerang Alliance on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn and share our posts! Use #DearTanya #DontGoSoftOnPlastics and tag Minister Tanya Plibersek.
You can also download the images that you can use on your own social media:
Other resources:
- Poster to put in front of your house or at work/school (A2, A3 & A4 size)
We are not able to do all these works without your support. Please consider making a donation so we can continue our fight against plastic pollution.
Send a message to The Federal Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek
Your message will be sent directly to the minister. Please feel free to change the email subject and amend/add your own text to the email.