OUR PLASTIC SINS
THE FUTURE: How to not repeat plastic mistakes of the past
THE microplastic study efforts of Wambangalang Environment Education Centre, Western Paddlers, Dubbo Environment Group, the Dragon Boaters and the Dubbo Rivercare Group members have been taking place at Sandy Beach and Troy Reserve.
Trained in March and equipped by citizen scientist organisation, the Australian Microplastic Assessment Project (AUSMAP), the volunteers’ results will paint a picture of Dubbo’s localised plastics pollution problem.
“Now that we’re all trained, we can train others and anyone is welcome to join,” Western Paddlers member Bron Powell said.
Every effort counts, as the 326 million plastic pollution conscious people would attest who signed up to Australian-based initiative, Plastic Free July, last year.
Plastic Free July encourages people to be part of the solution to reducing plastic pollution by not buying it in the first place.
As pictured on the front cover of Dubbo Photo News today, students from Carlton House Child Care Centre and Preschool are getting in on the act by refusing to use plastic plates or cups.
Dubbo Regional Council is also encouraging residents to sign up to the challenge.
“Plastic Free July is a perfect way to work on reducing the waste we would otherwise be sending to landfill. We’ve supported Plastic Free July over the years but in 2021, Council is really stepping up its involvement to bring the community together on the issue of waste reduction,” DRC Manager Resource Recovery and Efficiency John Wisniewski said.
The thinking behind the initiative is to see a world free of toxic plastic.
AUSMAP says plastic pollution is regarded as one of the world’s most pressing environmental issues despite industry giants like India’s Adani and Taiwan’s Formosa Plastic Group ramping up their efforts to flood the global consumer economy with even more single-use plastic packaging.
“Most of the plastics we know and use today are derived from fossil carbon (oil, coal and gas) – this common source determines their structure, design, features or way of producing. Just like the stone age did not end because we were running out of stones – the fossil age will not end because we are running out of fossil resources,” Scion Forests to Biobased Products general manager Florian Graichen said.
“We will use materials that are environmentally and economically sustainable. We are at the beginning of a transition to alternative – renewable – sources of carbon. Instead of digging deeper into the ground and using more fossil carbon (and accelerating climate change) – going forward our liquid fuel, plastics and chemicals will come from three sources of renewable carbon – from recycled products, capturing and utilising atmospheric CO2 or as discussed here from biomass.
“The challenge during this transition will be to rethink plastics – not blindly repeating mistakes from the past. Changing the plastics feedstock will require re-thinking design, manufacture and use of plastics. It will require value chains and networks that we are not seeing yet.”
` The challenge during this transition will be to rethink plastics – not blindly repeating mistakes from the past... a – Florian Graichen, General Manager Scion Forests to Biobased Products