The agreement was triggered by the Chinese ban on imported plastic waste but critics say it is too little too late

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Turnbull government and states have agreed that all Australian packaging should be reusable, compostable or recyclable by 2025 at the latest, but face accusations they are not moving quickly enough to fix a recycling industry crisis triggered by a Chinese ban on imported plastic waste.



The 2025 target was the only specific goal set at a meeting of federal and state environment ministers in Melbourne on Friday. But there was broad agreement that governments would ensure the use of more recycled materials in building roads and other construction projects, and that work would be done to improve recycling capacity within Australia.

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The federal environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, said recycling and waste were urgent issues and the meeting had adopted a comprehensive plan that would cut the amount of food and packaging that ended up as waste.

On the 2025 target, he said: “This is an important step forward and will have a real positive impact on our environment.”

But the target was dismissed as inadequate by the Australian Council of Recycling and the Australian Local Government Association. The latter’s president, David O’Loughlin, said the key measure was how much waste was reused, composted or recycled, not how much could be.

“Just because something is recyclable doesn’t mean it will be recycled. It needs to be profitable,” he said.

O’Loughlin gave the example of polystyrene, which he said could be recycled but it would not be profitable. He said it should no longer be produced.

Recycling material, much of it collected from kerbside household bins, has been stockpiled in several states since January, when China tightened restrictions on the amount of contamination allowed in shipments of recyclable plastics to a level industry leaders say cannot be met. There are about 200 stockpiles of recyclable waste in Victoria alone.

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Previously, about 35% of Australia’s recyclable plastics and 30% of paper and cardboard had been sent to China. The closure of that processing option left councils scrambling for other options at a significantly higher cost.

Frydenberg said as well as other solutions the commonwealth would continue to invest in “waste-to-energy” projects – effectively burning rubbish for electricity. Through its clean energy agencies it has spent more than $200m on 30 projects, but none are fully developed.

Asked why the federal government had not provided immediate funding to help state and local governments deal with stockpiles, Frydenberg said the states were already taking action and it was primarily their responsibility.

“What we need to do is turn this into an opportunity for Australia by building our long-term sustainable recycling industry. That’s the positive – that was the focus of our energy today,” he said.

The Victorian environment minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said the meeting had made progress on a national solution to the problem, but she was disappointed the federal government had not offered immediate financial support.

She said waste-to-energy projects had a place at the end of the waste stream, using what was left after maximum value was drawn from products created using recycled material.

O’Loughlin said that while he felt the target was inadequate, the meeting had taken solid steps to set up a sustainable industry.

But he said it would be difficult for councils to cope in the short term. He called on the states to spend funds raised through landfill levies to help address the problem.

The chief executive of the Australian Council of Recycling, Peter Shmigel, said the meeting was a start but agreed the 2025 target was not ambitious enough.

“They’ve acknowledged these themes but need to move more quickly,” he said. “It is happening in Europe. Why is Australia the poor cousin?”

Greens spokesman Peter Whish-Wilson, who this week released a $500m national recycling plan, said the meeting would not give the waste industry the certainty it needed to invest in upgrading infrastructure.

He said the 2025 target was no more than global packaging companies were already proposing. “[It] won’t touch the sides of the recycling crisis,” he said.

“At best, it might deal with the currently unrecyclable coffee cups and foil chip packets, but at worst it gives an impression that the government is actually acting when the opposite is the case.”

Ministers agreed to hold a teleconference on the issue in June before meeting again later in the year.