Plastic Waste in Australia
18
commonly advertise PVC as being 100% recyclable, but it is one of the least recycled plastics
in Australia.
100
This is because PVC often has high levels of contamination (for example, with
lead), because it is difficult to collect and transport, and because demand for the recycled
product is low.
101
An additional problem is that plastic recycling creates pollution through the shedding of
microplastics. Recycling produces microplastics, which end up in the environment through
wastewater or sludge from processing plants.
102
Research has found that large quantities of
microplastics are generated in the recycling process, and that, as a result, recycling centres
are likely to be “a major point source of microplastics pollution”.
103
Many plastics that are recycled do not go into the production of the same or similar
products but are instead
‘downcycled’
. Most recycled plastics are made into lower-quality,
lower-value products such as park benches and composite material for roads.
104
Recycled
plastic bottles, cups and takeaway containers generally cannot be made into new food-
grade packaging because many recycled plastics carry a toxicity risk.
105
Plastic commonly
absorbs not only toxic chemicals created in the recycling process, but also may have come
into contact with toxic chemicals throughout its lifecycle. As environmental chemist Dr
Charlotte Lloyd has stated, t
his creates, “the potential for a cocktail of chemicals, none of
which will be removed by the recycling process”
to be present in recycled plastics.
106
Furthermore, there are limits on how many times plastic can be recycled because it
degrades each time it goes through the process. Just 1% of plastic has been recycled more
than once.
107
These difficulties are exemplified in the
collapse of Australia’s
REDcycle
scheme, which collected soft plastics at most Australian supermarkets. At the height of the
scheme, collection volumes reached five million pieces of soft plastic per day.
108
But the
difficulties in recycling all this material overwhelmed the scheme. Supply soon exceeded
100
CSIRO (2022)
Saving PVC from landfill
101
Schuyler, Walton and Farbotko (2022)
PVC Recycling in Australia
, p 5-6, https://ecos.csiro.au/wp-
content/uploads/2022/02/21-00506_OA_REPORT_PVCRecycling_WEB.pdf
102
Suzuki et al (2022) ‘Mechanical recycling of plastic waste as a point source of microplastic pollution’,
Environmental Pollution,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119114
103
Ibid.
104
DeWeerdt (2022)
‘Why it’s so hard to recycle plastic’
,
Scientific American,
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-its-so-hard-to-recycle-plastic/
105
Lloyd (2023)
‘Toxins hidden in plastics are the industry’s dirty secret –
recycling is not the answer
’
,
The
Guardian,
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/25/toxins-in-plastics-industrys-dirty-
; Rung et al (2023) ‘
Identification and Evaluation of (Non-)Intentionally Added
Substances in Post-Consumer Recyclates and Their Toxicological Classification
’,
Recycling
,
https://doi.org/10.3390/recycling8010024
106
Ibid.
107
Geyer, Jambeck and Law (2017) ‘
Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made
’,
Science Advances,
p. 3,
https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fsciadv.1700782
108
Seccombe (2023)
‘
The soft-plastics recycling debacle
’
,
The Saturday Paper,
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/environment/2023/04/15/the-soft-plastics-recycling-debacle