Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Wong, thank you. In recent weeks, Australians were shocked and bloody angry when news broke that the soft-plastics recovery scheme run by Redcycle had collapsed, with billions of tons of plastic packaging being stored in warehouses rather than being recycled. Australians who were doing the right thing and taking plastic packaging back to supermarkets where it was purchased, rightly had expectations that big business and government would live up to their end of the bargain and see these plastics, which are so commonly found and dangerous in our oceans, recycled. Minister Plibersek expressed frustration at the news, saying, 'It shouldn't be beyond big companies like Coles and Woolworths to come up with a viable solution to soft-plastic recycling.' Senator, why is it seemingly beyond these big businesses to sort out their mess, and what is your government now planning to do to hold them to account?