“Australia 7th in global rankings for plastic reduction” Every year, millions of tonnes of plastic are discarded in Australia, but the local recycling industry can only handle about one-tenth of it; the rest is either buried or shipped overseas. A small portion will be directed toward a circular economy, while the remainder will be directed toward landfills, indicating that the current system in which people live will not be sustainable in the long run.
Steps were taken by Collaborators
The decision by China to stop recycling Australian waste served as a wake-up call for the local industry. The Australian collaborators from the University of Sydney have patented what they believe to be a revolutionary solution to the growing mountain of garbage, plastic waste. 80 percent of the material is not recycled daily and would otherwise end up in a landfill.
Essentially, the Australian scientists have obtained items such as wet suits, sawdust, and other items that cannot currently be recycled and can be converted into oil and then back into plastic, so what they are doing is simply taking those materials and converting them back to their liquids and chemicals.
As a result, the plastic became plastic bitumen or even petrol. Unlike traditional recycling, the chemical process they’ve developed eliminates the need to separate different types of plastic, allowing plastic waste to be recycled over and over again. This is the final product, which is the oil that will be used as building blocks for new plastics.
Sydney says the steps taken by Australian collaborators and scientists are great innovations, but the bigger issue Australia needs to address is it is the overconsumption of plastic, the technology for plastic reduction, and that’s holding Australia back in the “will to change a broken system well in the next 10-15 years.” And the country could use the motivation and stimulus to get things moving.