TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: The Government received some concerning yesterday that REDcycle the program has been set up by Coles and Woolworths to recycle soft plastics has folded. REDcycle was set up around 2011 and since that time has recycled about 5 billion pieces of soft plastic. We know that soft plastic is particularly difficult to recycle. We’re talking about things like bread bags, plastic bags in the fruit and veg section, the sort of soft plastic bags you get in the freezer section and bubble wrap. We know that Australian families are really keen to recycle this difficult to recycle plastics. I know a little part of me dies every time I see a piece of soft plastic going into my bin and ending up in landfill, so like a lot of families we’ve been packaging up our soft plastics and taking them down to the supermarket for recycling. 

But we know, too, that Australian governments, particularly at the most recent meeting of environment ministers, are very keen to see progress on recycling targets. We recommitted at that last environment ministers meeting to pursue in the strongest way advances in recycling. Our own government has set aside close to a quarter of a billion dollars to invest in new recycling infrastructure including $60 million set aside in particular to address this issue of hard to recycle plastics. 

We see that states and territories have also been working hard to remove plastics, plastic bags from shopping, plastic cutlery, plastic takeaway containers, plastic ear buds, microbeads from cosmetics. A lot of these are being banned or phased out, and that’s a great step forward. 

What we need to see now is greater industry commitment to getting rid of some of these problematic plastics. And I’ve spoken to Coles and Woolworths today and the Food and Grocery Council about the responsibility that these businesses have first of all to reduce the amount of packaging, to replace packaging where they can with less environmentally destructive packaging types and then also to recycle the packaging that they’re producing. These businesses are producing an enormous amount of waste and they have to take responsibility for how that waste is disposed of. Coles and Woolies agree they do feel the need and the responsibility to take action here, and I’ve said that the Australian government stands ready to assist them in taking that action. 

So what you have is mums and dads keen to take action. You’ve got an Australian government keen to act. What we need is for businesses to step up and take responsibility as well. Any questions? 

JOURNALIST: [inaudible] these soft plastics have been stored and stockpiled in warehouses?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I was very surprised to learn of the extent of the stockpiling. This is a huge amount of waste, an absolutely huge amount of waste. And I am very concerned about the immediate options for dealing with this waste. 

What I would say, though, is that when we get our circular economy operating right, this waste will be seen as a resource that can be remanufactured into products that can be on sold. So already we know that some of this waste has gone into Coles shop trolleys. We know that some of the waste has been made into footpaths and garden edging. We know that garden furniture, street benches, are made out of recycled plastic content. And we need to make sure that, first of all, we’re collecting this material right, that we’re recycling it, that we have the infrastructure available to recycle it. And then that we have demand for that recycled product as well. So I certainly was clear with the businesses today about making sure that there is demand for that recycled material is important as well. 

JOURNALIST: A constituent of yours reported that you told them, “If it were up to I’d get rid of stage 3 tax cuts.” Is that your position on stage 3, and do you deny saying that? 

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, I’ve consistently said that I support the government’s position on that. 

JOURNALIST: Do you deny saying that to your constituent though?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Have you got any questions about recycling? 

JOURNALIST: Will you come back to this one? 

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I’m not going to dignify your question with an answer. I’ve consistently said that I support the government position. 

JOURNALIST: Does that include on the 29th of October at the Erko Bezerko to this constituent?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I’ve consistently said that I support the government’s position. 

JOURNALIST: Just on waste, what are the Government’s options plastic [inaudible]. Have Coles and Woolworths given you an indication on what they might do?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, Coles and Woolworths are very keen to sort through this so that we can both deal with the stockpile that exists at the moment and come up with better recycling, better recycling options in the near term. It is a very difficult problem to address immediately. And I’m having ongoing discussions with the retailers and the industry. 

JOURNALIST: [inaudible] what kind of regulations would you consider?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, as I said, we are already working with environment ministers. We agreed at the last environment ministers meeting that we’ll be phasing out problematic plastics. We see the beginning of that work already with the phaseout of single use plastic bags, cutlery, takeaway containers and a bunch of other things. I think one of the real problems here is that we’ve set as a nation really terrific targets for recycling. 

I mean, the previous government set a target for recycling 70 per cent of plastics, recycling or being able to compost 70 per cent of plastics by 2025. And, sadly, we’re stuck at 16 per cent, and what’s really sad about this is we’ve been stuck at 16 per cent for the last four years. I mean, there’s been essentially no progress on achieving the targets. I think they’re great targets, but we’ve had a government for nine years that hasn’t acted on those targets. 

So I’ve had a great ministers meeting with my state and territory counterparts and we are seeking to up our ambition on recycling, get to those targets more effectively. In some cases get to those targets sooner. That’s going to require a great deal of investment in coming months and years in the collection of those materials and the infrastructure we need to deal with them effectively. 

JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] 

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, we’re going to do everything we possibly can to avoid that. And this is actually a precious resource. We don’t have the facilities available at the moment to deal with it properly. But we know that this plastic when it is reprocessed into materials is a valuable input into, you know, all sorts of – all sorts of products. So I’m working very closely with the retailers and working very closely with the recycling industry, and I think it’s terrific that we’ve set aside substantial funds to deliver on the ambitious targets that we’ve kept.

JOURNALIST: Can we just get some comments from the minister about the passing of Peter Reith? 

JOURNALIST: The passing of Peter Reith, could we get some comments on that. 

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: My deepest sympathies go to his family. 

Thank you.