iAccelerate Expert in Residence Kylie Flament facilitated a public forum at the UOW Innovation Campus recently to discuss the intractable problem of soft plastics. The forum heard from a panel of experts and invited questions from the public gallery, whose concerns have been prompted in part by the recent suspension of the REDcycle soft plastics recycling program.

Plastic packaging in the food industry is a particularly difficult issue because, as Professor Geoff Spinks noted, plastic is cheap and convenient. In addition, food packaging is often contaminated and the plastics used are not conducive to recycling. Those present at the forum expressed concern that, rather than talking about recycling plastic, the conversation should focus on elimination in the manufacturing sector.

While there is a lot of pressure on supermarkets to reduce plastic packaging and single-use plastics, particularly in fresh food, there is no mandate to reduce plastic packaging. The not-for-profit organisation leading the development of a circular economy for packaging is The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), which facilitates the delivery of the voluntary 2025 National Packaging Targets:

• 100% of packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable
• 70% of plastic packaging recycled or composted
• 50% average recycled content across all packaging
• Phase out problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic packaging

In attendance at the forum was Wollongong Ward 2 Councillor Cath Blakey, who afterwards prepared a notice of motion to take to Monday, December 12’s council meeting. The motion that passed through council was:

1. Note the 9 November 2022 suspension of the REDcycle soft plastics collection scheme which demonstrates that systemic changes are needed in the Australian packaging industry to stem waste.
2. Note that the REDcycle collection scheme reduced the volume of waste sent to Whytes Gully landfill, and that this volume is expected to increase following the suspension of the REDcycle program.
3. Write to state Minister for Environment and Heritage the Hon James Griffin MP, and federal Minister for the Environment and Water the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP calling on them to introduce stronger legislation to combat and reduce non-recyclable material in packaging, especially single-use plastics.
4. That council supports the federal government’s move to join the international ‘High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution’ treaty process that sets a target to recycle or reuse 100 per cent of plastic waste by 2040.

Also in attendance at the UOW community forum were PhD students of UOW lecturer Dr Karen Raubenheimer, who was recently in Uruguay at the first session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC). The purpose of this group is to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution. Dr Raubenheimer says that a global agreement will take years to negotiate and implement. The next meeting of the INC will be held in the first half of 2023. She says, “prevention is better and cheaper than cure".