Australia will join the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution that has set the ambitious goal of ending plastic pollution by 2040. Source: Timberbiz
The Australian Forest Products Association’s Victor Violante welcomed the Federal Government signing up to the pledge and.
Mr Violante said Australia’s world-class paper, fibre packaging and bio-products industries were already leading the way to a more sustainable future with environmentally sensitive alternatives to fossil-fuel based plastics.
“Growing trees sequesters carbon from the atmosphere – in fact production trees continue to be the best, most efficient and only commercially-viable approach to do this at the scale we need to achieve a circular economy,” he said.
“Our opportunity is to use the fibre resource in as many ways as possible to add value and solve complex challenges such as plastic pollution in the environment.
“Fibre-based products are already replacing single-use and problematic plastics in our supply chains, supermarkets, homes, cafes and more. Paper and cardboard already has the highest rates of recovery and recycling of any material.”
Mr Violante said that accelerating the circular economy meant thinking through about where materials came from, how they were used and what happened at the end of life. Sustainability, renewability, recyclability and biodegradability were hard-wired into Australia’s paper and fibre-packaging products.
“We applaud the Government for this commitment and look forward to working with them on the critical role local fibre manufacturers will play to deliver this goal,” Mr Violante said.
