Page 1741 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 15 May 2019
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further reduce the amount of organic material going into landfill through recycling into mulch.
We are also continuing to discuss potential strategies for waste-to-energy policies in the ACT. Options around reducing the consumption of single-use plastics are, of course, also on the agenda. We are continuing to work on how we apply circular economy principles to treat today’s waste as tomorrow’s resources.
A strong contemporary legislative and regulatory framework underpins the ACT’s ability to reduce and sustainably manage its waste under the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Act 2016 and the associated regulations. The act embeds the waste hierarchy, supports innovation investment and promotes responsibility for waste reduction and best practice.
We need to be innovative in the ways that we use waste. Circular economy principles are the cornerstone. Under the principles, waste is viewed as an important resource that can be recovered and re-used. The application of circular economy principles presents a significant opportunity for the waste sector. A closed loop waste sector helps stop our reliance on virgin materials and maximises the economic value of all waste.
While our current approaches are proving effective in the waste we are managing, there is a pipeline of initiatives that seeks to accelerate our future efforts to avoid and reduce the territory’s waste and better manage that which cannot be avoided. The government has provided the community with a number of opportunities to participate in the discussion on how we can best avoid and reduce, and then recover and recycle, our waste—for example, through the waste feasibility study.
We are also engaging with Canberrans and the broader community on the phasing out of single-use plastics through the discussion paper that is currently out for consultation. Our society can no longer throw away responsibility for the plastics littering our environment. Single-use plastics are ubiquitous. They are found in our waterways, in our landscapes, in our city parks and they are going into our landfill. If we are to take the responsible approach to managing our environment, we must reduce problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics.
I know that community concern about this waste is now at an all-time high. Many businesses in Canberra and our Australian packaging industry are already taking steps towards a more responsible approach. Yet it is still commonplace to see takeaway shops continuing to use plastic-foam polystyrene takeaway cups. Of course, we all know that most businesses currently use plastic-lined coffee cups.
Supermarkets also continue to sell plastic plates, cups and cutlery when it seems like there are clear alternatives already being sold on their own shelves. That is why governments also have an important role to play, through education but also through environmental regulation.
The European Parliament last year voted to ban single-use plastics by 2021. Similarly, South Australia and the City of Hobart are also looking at phasing out single-use
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