Page 4573 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 31 October 2018
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
finding ways to reduce the prevalence of single-use plastics in Canberra. The ACT government will continue to explore ways to reduce, reuse and recycle all types of waste in the ACT, including plastic.
Our waste management strategy is clearly focused on less waste generation and full resource recovery. The strategy outlines our target of achieving 90 per cent of waste being diverted from landfill by 2025 and supports a carbon neutral waste sector by 2020. Like many things we do here in the ACT, we have set some of the most ambitious targets in the country, but of course we still have more to do.
Each year around 250,000 tonnes of waste is sent to landfill. This contains only a small amount of plastic by weight. However, as we know, plastic can take hundreds of years to break down: longer than a tin can, longer than a pair of leather shoes and longer than a woollen jumper, some of the most common items found on Clean Up Australia Day. Of course, most plastics are made from oil or gas, non-renewable resources that, once depleted, cannot be replaced. This makes it critically important to avoid plastic wherever we possibly can.
The ACT government is leading the way on reducing the use of plastic and promoting re-use of plastics through our comprehensive community and business programs and campaigns. We deliver school and community education about reducing, re-using and recycling resources at our Recycling Discovery Hub in Hume. I recently had the opportunity to visit the hub and it is truly an immersive experience that gives visitors a behind-the-scenes look at how Canberra manages recycling. Over 3,300 people have taken a tour since its relaunch in April.
Of course, the container deposit scheme launched in July this year encourages and facilitates better plastic recycling behaviours. As at the end of October, we have collected 4.4 million containers through the scheme. These are just some of the examples of how the ACT government is working with community and business to minimise the use of plastic and responsibly recycle it. But we must continue to reduce our reliance on single-use plastic.
In November 2011, when our plastic bag ban came into effect it was a relatively novel approach, despite it being in place in South Australia for many years. The ACT was the third jurisdiction in Australia to implement the ban on single-use lightweight plastic shopping bags behind SA and the NT. Today, with the exception of New South Wales all jurisdictions have committed to some kind of plastic bag ban. In the ACT our ban has resulted in a reduction in the consumption of plastic bags by around 55 million bags in 2017-18 alone. We should not stop there and we will continue to explore what else we can do to address the issue.
The ACT government is also looking at what we can do internally. For example, the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate has formed an internal working group to explore how it can support plastic recycling within its own operations. It may be that the directorate can influence its procurement policies to build demand for recycled plastic products, including bollards, benches and even use in asphalt, which I mentioned today in question time.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video