Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on this motion. Recycling, waste reduction and establishing a circular economy will be vital in our fight to protect our environment, and I commend the member for North Sydney for raising this important issue in this private member's motion. However, recycling and waste reduction policies, as with all other important environmental policies, need clear leadership, and this is precisely what is lacking from this government. I say this because, as a proud South Australian, I have seen the potential of change in waste practice when a government presents a clear policy and message, just as previous state Labor governments did in my home state of South Australia.

South Australia has a long and proud history of being a trend setter when it comes to recycling. In South Australia, we introduced Australia's first container deposit legislation in 1977. As a result of this policy, we led the nation in the recovery and recycling of beverage containers. In 2019-20, SA had an overall return rate of 76.7 per cent. SA was also the first place in the nation to ban lightweight, check-out-style plastic bags in 2009. The success of these initiatives meant that SA was unanimously on board when we became the first state to pass legislation banning single-use plastic products. I mention these examples because they demonstrate two important things—firstly, that there is a strong appetite and acceptance in the community to do more to reduce waste and to use recycled products, and, secondly, that with good leadership so much can be achieved. The question is: why isn't this federal government showing leadership on this issue?

The world is facing an acute problem with plastic waste, especially in terms of the impact on our marine environment. Who can forget the images of floating plastic islands the size of small countries on our oceans, or marine life killed by ingested plastic? Waste and how we dispose of it is everyone's problem, but we look to our leaders to lead in this area. Unfortunately, in the case of recycling there is no leadership by this current government. Data shows that since 2016-17 Australia's recycling rate for plastics has dropped from an already unacceptably low 12 per cent to nine per cent, and total waste has risen 10 per cent, from 68 million tonnes per annum to a record 76 million tonnes. This flies in the face of the National Waste Policy targets of reducing overall waste by 10 per cent by 2030 and achieving a rate of 80 per cent average resource recovery from all waste streams by 2030. We need to do better than this if we're to get on top of this problem.

In essence, we need to establish a circular economy in Australia. This will ensure that we are both reducing the amount of waste going into landfill as well as ensuring that we are recycling and repurposing as much waste as possible. This is more important than ever, since the waste export ban came into effect at the beginning of this year. The government needs to deliver a national plastics plan to increase recycling rates and reduce plastic pollution, reform the Commonwealth's sustainability procurement guide with actual targets for the use of recycled material and support wide-scale recycling infrastructure. We need to set national standards and specifications for the use of recycled content in capital works projects, especially road and rail, and baseline levels for recycled content in road construction. Without such measures, Australia's growing waste will inevitably need to be stockpiled or landfilled, causing continued damage to our environment.

The waste and resource industry has long been calling on this government to show leadership in creating demand for recycled materials. This will underpin investment in the necessary infrastructure and innovation, and Australia could be a leader in this area, creating manufacturing jobs and fuelling our recovery out of the current economic crisis. This government is in its third term and 7th year and it has failed to make even the slightest improvement to the rate of plastic recycling. It's definitely failed to show leadership in this growing problem. Australians and our environment deserve better.

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