Australia announces world-first ban on plastic exports
The Federal Government has announced the introduction of a ban on the export of mixed plastic waste exports.
The ban will end the export of 75,000 tonnes of mixed plastic waste annually. The ban aims to further support Australia’s domestic waste industry, as well as create more jobs throughout the sector.
The demand for domestic process is set to increase, with the Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley saying that the nations capabilities to process waste materials is only set to grow.
“Recent surveys identify that there is already annual spare capacity of just over 160,000 tonnes at 52 of Australia’s operational plastics processing facilities to meet this demand and that capacity is growing,” Ley said.
“While there may be a few others who are slow to adjust, the broader industry is firmly behind where we are going.”