The big two supermarkets have started dumping soft plastics overseas after the collapse of the red-cycle recycling program. Coles and Woolworths say they're dealing with a massive stockpile of plastic, and without domestic capacity, they're left with little option but to ship the waste offshore. Recycling advocates want the industry to come up with a better plan.
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TVTranscript
00:00 - Well, I think, I mean, you know, from their perspective,
00:03 it's really very much about taking care
00:05 of the urgent matter ahead of them.
00:08 If you've got a stockpile to deal with, you know,
00:10 it can potentially pose a risk.
00:11 So you have to be able to really address
00:14 the short-term challenges.
00:15 And I think to me, that's really the front and center issue
00:20 for all of us also, we should be concerned about,
00:24 you know, all these kind of warehouses
00:26 where you've got this material potentially
00:29 that could pose a fire risk.
00:31 So I think in the short term, you know,
00:33 being able to find solutions for recycling,
00:36 absolutely important.
00:37 You know, the last thing we want is for these things
00:40 to end up in landfill or catch fire.
00:42 So I think that that's one side of it.
00:45 But I think we also have to recognize
00:47 that we do need to be able to think about
00:49 what are we gonna be able to do
00:52 in building our own capability
00:54 and sovereign capability in Australia.
00:56 I think that's gonna be extremely important.
00:58 So, you know, there are these sort of two challenges,
01:01 the short-term versus what we do beyond that.
01:04 - Yeah, no, that's a good way of explaining it.
01:05 So that's that short-term challenge that you say,
01:08 where they're having to ship it offshore,
01:09 that's not sustainable in the long run.
01:11 But if we go to that challenge,
01:14 is it making a dent as to the stockpiles we've got here
01:16 and what they're doing with it?
01:17 - Yeah, look, I mean, you know, ultimately,
01:20 if we are going to start to think about what we do
01:23 in the medium term and then have a more sustainable
01:26 and a responsible approach towards this,
01:30 then I think those businesses that are, of course,
01:32 you know, making this as part of their regular
01:36 kind of business of selling products
01:39 have to also then take that responsibility
01:43 for how do we manage these kinds of items.
01:46 You know, of course, one could arguably say that,
01:49 do we really need to have so many different kinds of,
01:54 you know, plastic containers,
01:57 these kind of plastic containers that are designed
02:00 to be just single use, short lifespan,
02:03 purely built around convenience?
02:05 I mean, if you can actually start to think about
02:07 what you can offer to customers
02:10 so that, you know, you kind of show that you are taking
02:14 the right steps in the long term,
02:17 but also invest in what you can do in the medium term
02:21 to build more capacity locally,
02:23 to be able to do recycling and remanufacturing
02:26 right here in Australia.
02:27 So we can start to build that sovereign capability.
02:31 You know, there are lots of exciting scientific
02:35 and technological solutions.
02:37 And the way forward means that that kind of investment
02:41 has to be planned, carefully planned,
02:44 so we can all do the right thing.
02:45 - Well, that brings us to what's happening
02:48 in Germany at the moment.
02:49 So through legislation, the businesses in Germany
02:52 that depend on this single use plastic will pay a levy
02:56 and it'll go to things like litter collecting.
02:59 Has anything like that been floated in Australia?
03:02 Do you think that would work here?
03:04 - Look, I think that's such a sensible thing to talk about,
03:08 because I think ultimately when you look towards
03:10 what the government in Germany is doing,
03:12 it's very much about saying that if they are going
03:15 to actually encourage and have regulations in place,
03:20 that is going to bring that kind of funding into the system
03:25 by actually having these businesses
03:28 that are going to have to pay for collection and cleanup.
03:32 And ultimately when you start the first few steps correctly,
03:36 so do all the right things when it comes to collection
03:39 and cleanup, but also then invest in capacity
03:41 to do remanufacturing.
03:43 I think to me that whole of life cycle
03:46 of any particular products, in this case,
03:48 if we are talking about plastics,
03:50 recognizing that if you just kind of have this
03:54 as a completely uncontrolled scenario,
03:56 that's not going to be sustainable.
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