Page 3711 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 18 September 2018
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However, I also note that she has just called for a plastic-free ACT and, for the reasons that I have just outlined, I cannot, in good conscience, support her call. I would suggest that perhaps Ms Le Couteur spend a little less time with small baby birds and a little more time with our vulnerable Canberrans before making such a call.
MS ORR (Yerrabi) (4.02): I would like to thank Ms Le Couteur for bringing this matter of public importance before the Assembly. The reduction of single-use plastic in the ACT is a topic that I have spoken about many times in this chamber. I would like to once again take the opportunity to speak about the harm caused by single-use plastic and how we may act to decrease such harm.
Single-use plastic has an almost incomprehensible impact on our environment. It may start in our homes but it ends up in our oceans, our waterways, our streets, our parks and even our food. Despite the well-known damaging effects of plastics on our environment, wildlife and our own health, we continue to use it in unfathomable amounts.
Since large-scale production of plastics began in the 1950s, humans have collectively produced 8.3 billion metric tonnes of plastic. If we continue to follow past trends of plastic production, we will be producing that same amount of plastic between 2017 and 2028. That is 8.3 billion metric tonnes of plastic in just 11 years.
These numbers are a cause for concern in their own right but they become even more alarming when we take into account the durability of plastic. Plastic can take up to 600 years to break down, whether that be in landfill or in our environment. Of course, it is in our environment that this plastic is most dangerous. In fact the research being done on the full impact of our excessive plastic use is still revealing new ways that plastics are causing harm to our wildlife and to ourselves.
I recently spoke in this chamber about the impact plastic is having on the wildlife in our oceans. Plastic that gets improperly disposed of often ends up washed into our waterways. Once it makes its way into our oceans, it is consumed by turtles, dolphins, fish and other wildlife. Plastic in our waterways can cause serious harm to the health of wildlife populations. It is so prevalent in our oceans that it has been found to comprise up to 10 per cent of the total body weight of sea birds.
The harm caused by plastic does not end with our wildlife. Often this plastic happens to find its way into our food supply. Unfortunately, most are still unaware of the number of foods and drinks that actually contain plastic. Bottled water contains an average of 10 plastic particles per litre, each larger than the width of a human hair. While chewing gum was once manufactured with all-natural ingredients, current mainstream manufacturers are using plastics, rubbers and other synthetic materials as its core ingredient. Of course, fish and other seafood often contain plastics that were ingested while they were alive.
We are yet to fully understand the impacts on our health of plastic in our food supply. However, research on this matter suggests that even at lower levels of exposure certain chemicals in plastics may cause serious illnesses, including several types of cancer.
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