Page 649 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 30 March 2021
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By the 1960s plastic was beginning to be noticed in waterways and the ocean. At this point, concern about the impact on the environment of this new product began to be more prominent. That was more than 50 years ago, and nowhere near enough action has been taken since that time. We have only been producing it en masse since the late 30s. In less than 100 years, though, we have managed to overrun the planet with plastic waste.
Along with deforestation and carbon emissions, the plastic entering the natural world has the potential to play a part in the catastrophic failure of our ecosystems. Policymakers over the past several decades have attempted to use various measures to reduce the impact that plastics have on the environment. A big one has been to reduce, re-use and recycle. This slogan originated in the 70s, as governments around the world tried to encourage and stimulate individual actions to reduce plastic waste.
Unfortunately, the emphasis has always been on the “recycle” section of the policies. Unfortunately, the reality of recycling is that it is often much more expensive than producing new plastic, some plastics cannot be recycled and it just is not something that happens when market forces are left to do it. Currently, less than 10 per cent of plastic in Australia is recycled. We need to reduce our usage; it is as simple as that. Recycling is not going to be enough, re-using it is not going to be enough and, unfortunately, the market alone will not produce the reductions we need.
The ACT has led the way in this country on environmental policy. We reached our 100 per cent renewable energy target before the 2020 goal. There is great work being done to conserve our grasslands and waterways, but there is always more work to do. Thanks to our single-use plastic shopping bag ban, between 2011 and 2018 we reduced our plastic bag use by 1,132 tonnes. In 2017-18 alone, we reduced our use by 199 tonnes. That is equivalent to around 55 million plastic bags.
This bill both absorbs and builds on the ACT’s bag ban. With the evidence in front of us, imagine how much good we can do when we phase out more single-use plastic items. Reducing single-use plastic is an important environmental issue. There is no doubt that preserving the environment for its own sake is a really important responsibility of all societies. However, let us face it: there is an inherently selfish benefit for human society. After all, our environment is what provides us with air, food and water; and, to put it bluntly, it is what makes our existence possible. The better we sustain our environment, the better it can sustain us.
A prime example of this is the burgeoning research showing microplastics in seafood destined for human consumption. It has been found in mussels, tuna and other species. Some of this plastic can be quite toxic to humans after digestion. It can be carcinogenic and it can also cause digestive problems. If the thought of plastic and its effects on animals is not enough to concern you, how about its impact on us? Microplastics are in the air we breathe and the water we drink. Once these microplastics enter our bodies, they often remain with us for the rest of our lives. That is a scary thought. It is honestly appalling how plastics have infected not only every ecosystem but the whole planet.
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