‘Recycled can be more hazardous’: Twiggy on taxing plastic

Mining magnate Andrew Forrest has implored those negotiating an ambitious treaty to end plastic production to include a tax on manufacturers, amid mounting research into the human health impacts.

In an opinion piece published by this masthead, the billionaire called on delegates finalising a global treaty to end plastic pollution in South Korea this week to impose a “polymer premium”, arguing the world needed more than downstream measures to avoid a plastic health and environmental crisis.

Billionare Andrew Forrest.Credit: Trevor Collens

Under the plan, countries would pocket a fee of between US$60-90 (AUD$90-140) per tonne of primary plastic polymer from producers to bankroll waste management infrastructure and address human health impacts.

Countries would retain 10 per cent or more of the revenue from the production of virgin plastic, with the rest redistributed to help low and middle-income nations to help tackle legacy pollution.

Forrest encouraged those leading the United Nations Environment Programme negotiations to commit to a robust treaty, known as INC-5, and lambasted those with vested interests he accused of lobbying to weaken it.

“If the world does nothing, if the negotiators just tinker around the edges, we are locking ourselves into a future where we and our kids get sicker and sicker from the plastic chemicals that are building up in our food, our water and our bodies,” he said.

“At the most recent round of plastic treaty negotiations in Ottawa, one in 20 of the more than 4000 delegates was a fossil fuel executive, lobbying for your children to continue to be harmed by toxic chemicals.

“These lobbyists and countries with a vested interest will tell you recycling is the solution.

“That the onus is on you, the consumer, to recycle more. What they conveniently neglect to mention is that recycled plastic can be more hazardous than virgin plastic.”

Forrest said he believed a fee, coupled with other cost recovery measures and public funding, could finance the transition away from plastic production and further research into the long-term health effects.

The Fortescue mining boss said the need for a polymer premium was backed by research from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).

“It’s a small cost to these multinational chemical companies which can then be used to build waste management systems, assist waste workers to transition to new jobs, clean up past pollution and fund critical human health research to build understanding of the harm from plastic chemicals,” he said.

“We must address the problem at its source.

“It’s rare to have the opportunity to comprehensively right a wrong inflicted on the planet and us.”

The push comes just weeks after global environmental consultants Eunomia published new research, funded by Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s $8 billion philanthropic arm Minderoo Foundation, exploring how a polymer premium could help bankroll the treaty’s implementation.

The study was commissioned after a separate analysis estimated a shortfall of between $350 billion and $500 billion in the funding required to implement the pact.

Instead of governments being required to bridge that gap, the research suggested the fee — which equates to just 10¢ per kilogram of plastic produced — could be used to close the financing gap.

The polymer premium would work alongside EPR (extended producer responsibility) fees, which would unlock upfront finance for the collection, sorting and treatment of plastics once at the end of the lifecycle.

The research also comes just weeks after the philanthropic organisation launched a global advertising campaign detailing the human health effects of plastic production.

In August, an Australian review partially funded by Minderoo found plastic-associated chemicals were linked to various health conditions, from heart disease, diabetes, and endometriosis to damaged sperm and even low IQ.

Since its inception in 2001, Minderoo’s initiatives have grown to span early childhood education, research into plastics and ocean pollution and work against modern slavery, as well as providing humanitarian aid in Gaza and Ukraine.

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