Australia

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A place to discuss Australia and important Australian issues.

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Australia’s annual plastic consumption produces emissions equivalent to 5.7m cars, analysis shows (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

3 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/369276

The plastics consumed yearly by Australians have a greenhouse emissions impact equivalent to 5.7m cars - more than a third of the cars on Australia's roads, new analysis suggests.

Kate Noble, the policy manager of WWF Australia's No Plastics in Nature program, said: "While plastic is not one of the biggest emitters, and the focus on the biggest emitters is absolutely right, it's also right that we should understand what the impact of our growing plastic consumption is in terms of emissions."

Over 20 years, plastic made from virgin fossil fuels was 2.2 and 2.7 times more emissions-intensive than mechanically recycled plastic and plant-based plastic respectively, the modelling showed.

Dr Deborah Lau, who leads the CSIRO's Ending Plastic Waste mission and was not involved in the report, said the analysis "Recognises that carbon emissions should not be the only environmental measure when considering alternatives to plastic products".

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They need to make it easier to recycle. No more commingled packaging, pick one material and use it for the whole package rather than requiring the consumer to separate the lid and label from the container.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I recently bought a new Logitech mouse for my fiancée and absolutely loved how it was packaged. Aside from that tiniest bit of sticky tape, all of the packaging was cardboard. And it wasn't the waxed type of cardboard that so many things come in. Everything apart from the mouse itself went straight into recycling.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I've personally been trying to cut back on plastic where I can.

One thing I've been avoiding is plastic wrapped fruit and veg, opting for the loose ones wherever possible.

At some point I want to start logging our garbage and see what we can cut out to reduce the waste. That's definitely on my nerdier side, and thankfully shouldn't be too hard for just the two of us.