Plastic Waste in Australia
17
difficult to recycle plastics than is often assumed. A recent
Greenpeace
report lists a number
of challenges:
1.
Plastic is difficult to collect.
2.
Mixed plastic waste cannot be recycled together.
3.
Plastic recycling is wasteful, polluting and a fire hazard.
4.
Recycled plastic carries a toxicity risk.
5.
Recycling causes microplastics to be shed into the environment.
6.
Plastic recycling is not economical and depends on extensive taxpayer-funded
programs.
92
There are thousands of different types of plastic, and they cannot be recycled together.
93
This is particularly challenging in the case of composite plastic items. For example, many PET
bottles have HDPE lids, and the two cannot be recycled together, so they must be separated
prior to recycling.
94
Even small levels of contaminants can degrade the quality of an entire
batch of recycled plastic.
95
Colourants pose an additional challenge. Coloured bottles, for
example, cannot be recycled alongside clear bottles. This is one reason why Coca-Cola
recently changed their Sprite bottles from green to clear plastic.
96
Other technological, economic, and environmental limitations mean there is significant
variation between the recyclability of different plastics. Soft plastics, for example, are
avoided by many mainstream recyclers because they pose sorting issues and can clog
machinery. As a result, where recycling rates for rigid plastics in Australia sit at 26%,
recycling rates for flexible plastics are only 7%.
97
PVC is another example of a difficult-to-recycle plastic. PVC is one of four most consumed
plastics in Australia.
98
It is used for a variety of applications, including in building and
construction as piping, cladding, decking, and as wire and cable insulation.
99
Producers
92
Greenpeace (2022)
Circular claims fall flat again: 2022 update
, p 18-21
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GPUS_FinalReport_2022.pdf
93
Ibid
, p 19
94
Pooraka Bottle and Can Recycling Centre (2022)
Why remove lids from plastic bottles
,
https://www.recyclingdepotadelaide.com.au/why-remove-lids-from-plastic-bottles
95
DeWeerdt (2022)
‘Why it’s so hard to recycle plastic’
,
Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-its-so-hard-to-recycle-plastic/
96
Coca-Cola (2023)
Sprite’s iconic green bottles go clear in Australia, making them
easier to recycle in local PET
recycling plants
, https://www.coca-colacompany.com/au/news/sprite-green-bottles-go-clear
97
APCO (2023)
Review of the 2025 National Packaging Targets,
p 15,
https://documents.packagingcovenant.org.au/public-
documents/Review%20of%20the%202025%20National%20Packaging%20Targets
98
By weight. CSIRO (2022)
Saving PVC from landfill,
https://www.csiro.au/en/news/all/articles/2022/march/pvc-recycling
99
British Plastics Federation (2023)
Polyvinyl Chloride PVC,
https://www.bpf.co.uk/plastipedia/polymers/PVC.aspx#