It is estimated that, globally, we are manufacturing 430 million tonnes of plastic each year and, by 2040, 29 million tonnes per year will end up in the ocean. 

Plastics in the ocean and in our creeks, rivers and lakes are having major adverse effects on biodiversity via physical impacts such as ingestion by aquatic animals and suffocation and entanglement of wildlife, and by impacts caused by the additives used in plastics, which are often toxic, hazardous and contain long-lived chemicals.

Microplastics from tyres are in the urban air we breathe, and plastics are also in some of the food and drink we consume. These plastics can lead to a range of human health impacts, including cancer, cardiovascular, inflammatory, auto immune and neurodegenerative diseases. Also, as most plastics are currently made from hydrocarbons, greenhouse gas emissions from their manufacture add to climate change.

Global efforts to address environmental impacts from plastics are occurring, and South Australia is a leader in this field, for example, our long-standing container deposit scheme and more recent bans on single-use plastics. However, global plastic production is increasing, and South Australia’s plastic recycling rate is 28%, so we need to continue to ramp up our efforts to ban or reduce plastic use, decrease its toxicity and facilitate greater plastic recovery and reuse through design changes and increased recycling.

An expert paper on plastics commissioned by the EPA provides suggestions for consideration by the South Australian Government in its continuing efforts to address waste and facilitate the circular economy, with the aim of achieving:

• reduced use of plastics (more bans on certain plastic items; behaviour change)
• less discharge of plastics into the environment (increased regulation; behaviour change)
• use of less toxic plastic materials (design changes)
• further increases in recycling (expansion of the container deposit scheme to non-beverage containers; container refilling; new recycling technologies; material recovery facility upgrades; procurement of products and infrastructure with more recycled plastic content; improved material and product design to facilitate recycling; behaviour change).