Plastic Waste
Clean Up Australia has just released their 2022 National Rubbish Report. It reports that plastics account for 63% of the rubbish items removed from our parks, schools, bushland, creeks, beaches and roadways, indicating a 17% increase from 2021. Soft plastics rose by 7%, hard plastics by 5% and polystyrene by 5% compared to 2021, with single-use plastics such as plastic bottles, takeaway containers, food packaging and lids making up 25% of all reported rubbish. The Clean Up Australia Report is a snapshot of the rubbish items volunteers have removed across 1,075 surveyed locations in Australia during 2022. Breaking down by location, 46% of all reported rubbish found nationally was in waterways including beaches, rivers and dive sites, followed by parks (14%) and bushland (13%). Plastic litter dominated all locations, with most found in school grounds (79%), bushland (74%) and parks (60%). The report highlights the problems with our current approach to recycling. We need to do much more