Zooming in on plastics

To address the plastic pollution crisis, we need to overhaul the way we design, utilise, and recover plastics. Recycling and reduction alone won't suffice. If we fail to act promptly, plastics may outnumber fish in the oceans by 2050. Queensland alone uses over 900 million plastic bags every year. Most end up in landfill but an estimated 16 million become litter.

Plastics represent a shared challenge across industries in Queensland. A detailed Plastic Analysis conducted by Whitsunday Regional Council and RCMG identified some of the common challenges related to plastics faced by local industry.

Shared Challenges Across Industries

  • limited capture rates: all sectors struggle with capturing and sorting plastics efficiently.

  • contamination and mixed plastics: across industries, plastic waste often includes mixed and contaminated materials, complicating recycling processes.

  • behavioural and participation barriers: there is a general need for increased engagement and willingness to participate in recycling programs.

  • lack of local processing facilities: the absence of local advanced processing facilities means plastics need to be transported out of the region.

  • high costs of sorting and infrastructure: the operational and infrastructure costs for sorting and processing plastics are significant across all sectors.

The circular economy is a vital approach to stop plastic pollution, and also offers strong economic, social, and climate benefits. By 2040 a circular economy has the potential to:

●      reduce the annual volume of plastics entering our oceans by 80%

●      reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25%

●      generate savings of USD 200 bn per year

●      create 700,000 net additional jobs

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, global circular economy thought leader, to create a circular economy for plastic we must take three actions:

  1. Eliminate: Eliminate all problematic and unnecessary plastic items

  2. Innovate: Innovate to ensure that the plastics we do need are reusable, recyclable, or compostable.

  3. Circulate: Circulate all the plastic items we use to keep them in the economy and out of the environment

Key circular economy opportunities for plastics being explored by key stakeholders and initiatives in the Greater Whitsunday Region have been organised below, according to the three strategies for plastics laid out by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation:

1.        Eliminate

a.        Exploring ways to eliminate and/or reduce plastic use, such as integrated crop management

2.        Innovate

a.        Exploring plastic alternatives, such as biodegradable options for plastic mulch

3.        Circulate

a.        Establishing fixed and mobile balers to facilitate size reduction and transport of plastics.

b.        Establishing local aggregation, sorting, and baling sites in key areas (Burdekin, Bowen, Proserpine, Mackay).

c.        Supporting the development of plastic processing facilities in strategic locations like Townsville and Mackay

d.        Encouraging local manufacturers to utilise recycled plastics to create new products

e.        Assess the feasibility of capturing mining plastics within existing agricultural systems.

While all the solutions being explored locally offer significant opportunities to divert plastics from landfill and ecosystems, many of them are in the “Circulate” strategy, capturing plastics downstream.

A circular economy considers every stage of a product’s journey – before and after it reaches the customer. In the Greater Whitsunday Region, there is a significant opportunity to further explore “Eliminate” and “Innovate” solutions for plastics.

 

 

Projects RCOE