Australia joins High Ambition Coalition

Plastic Free Foundation welcomes the news that Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has announced Australia will join the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, joining 20 other nations including Norway, Rwanda, UK, Canada, France, and Germany that aims to deliver an ambitious legally binding global treaty banning plastic pollution, which under the current trajectory is set to double by 2040.

This international push for a global agreement to end plastic pollution by 2040 advocates for the treaty to include global standards, bans and restrictions on plastic. 

‘Australia is a large producer of plastic waste by global standards. We’ve got to do better and by working in this global coalition, we’re signalling that we’re prepared to be held to account,’ Minister Plibersek said.

In Australia alone, we use more than one million tonnes of plastics each year. The national plastics recycling rate is just 12.4%. We cannot recycle our way out of this problem. Reducing plastic production and consumption are critical.

Negotiations for this treaty are set to take place in a series of Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee meetings, with the first starting in Uruguay on 28 November 2022, and the treaty’s negotiations are expected to be concluded by 2024. The next two years are critical. During the two-year negotiation period alone, the total amount of plastic pollution in the ocean is tipped to increase by 15%.

Through Plastic Free July, we know hundreds of millions of people from all corners of the world have taken personal action to reduce their plastic waste but many are also realising that their individual responsibility must be matched and accompanied by global and systemic action for the world to make a dent in reversing our devastating plastic pollution footprint. The report Rising Tides: Global Opinions on Actions to Stop Plastic Pollution in 28 Countries found overwhelming public support for a  global plastic pollution treaty.

Now is the time to turn off the plastics tap and turn the tide on plastic pollution.