Morrison’s ‘practical’ green plan to focus on plastic pollution and recycling

Scott Morrison is to focus his environment agenda on reducing plastic pollution and building a sustainable recycling program.

Scott Morrison at the Pratt Industries plant in Wapakoneta, Ohio on Monday. Picture: AFP

Scott Morrison is sharpening his political agenda on the environment to focus on reducing plastic pollution in the Pacific Ocean and building a sustainable recycling program in Australia, in a bid to shift ideologically driven debate away from global climate change targets to more practical solutions.

With Labor divided over setting a global emissions reduction target for 2030, the Prime Minister is using his US visit to pivot towards shorter-term environmental challenges.

In a major foreign policy speech in Chicago early on Tuesday (AEST) before he attends a special UN event, the Prime ­Minister said Australia was committed to substantially increasing economic support and co-­operation in the southwest Pacific Ocean, including on illegal fishing and plastic pollution.

“We are substantially increasing our economic, security and infrastructure co-operation in the southwest Pacific,” Mr Morrison told the Chicago Institute of Global Affairs.

He said “a commitment to work together to resolve challenges of common interest including on oceans, climate, illegal fishing and plastics pollution” was one of the five key principles in Australia’s engagement with the Indo-Pacific.

Mr Morrison’s pitch to focus on practical environmental issues such as recycling comes as a new UN report warned that nations would need to triple their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to restrict global temperature increases to less than 2C by the end of the century.

Compiled by the World Meteorological Organisation and released to coincide with a UN meeting in New York aimed at ­encouraging countries to improve their efforts in tackling climate change, it also found that a five-fold increase in efforts would be needed from countries to limit warming to 1.5C by 2100.

Although climate change was not discussed during his meetings with Mr Trump and US cabinet ministers, Mr Morrison agreed to a push by the US Trade and Development Agency and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to support more infrastructure development in the Indo-Pacific region, with “a new focus on the Pacific Islands”.

Mr Morrison also agreed this week to support the G20 work on marine plastic debris and the Osaka Blue Ocean Vision by backing efforts to stem plastic pollution in nations that produce a large amount of plastic through improved waste management, recycling and innovation.

Mr Morrison faced criticism for not attending the UN climate change summit in New York while he was on his 10-day tour of the US, but is planning to attend a special UN Ocean Wave event targeting plastic pollution of the oceans.

Other attendees include Norway Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Palau President Thomas Remengesau and Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Mr Morrison — who faced pressure at the Pacific Island Forum over Australia’s coal production and stance on greenhouse gas emission reductions — will also attend a Pacific Islands leaders meeting in New York.

The Prime Minister last month unveiled a $500m climate change and oceans funding package for the Pacific region when he attended the Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting in Tuvalu.

Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor has said the government expects to exceed Australia’s Kyoto 2020 target by 367 million tonnes and has “laid out how we will achieve our Paris 2030 targets to the last tonne”.

Apart from trying to stem the immediate threat of plastic pollution and illegal fishing to the environment and economies of Pacific Island nations, Mr Morrison is pursuing better ways of dealing with recycling and garbage for landfills. In Ohio early on Monday (AEST), Mr Morrison joined Mr Trump to open a $US500m ­Australian-owned Pratt Industries paper plant as a symbol of two-way investment between the US and Australia and as an example of superior waste recycling.

Mr Trump praised the environmental advantages of the cardboard recycling plant, saying “not a single tree” was cut down to make paper at the plant.

Last month, Mr Morrison moved quickly to head off a regional political storm about the return of plastic waste in containers from Malaysia that could not be processed. The Australian government immediately announced a $20m plan to encourage the recycling of plastic waste.

“We are committed to protecting our nation’s environment while also building our capacity to turn recycling into products that people want and need,” Mr Morrison said.

Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and The Philippines have returned tonnes of undeclared waste products to Australia and the US this year as part of their campaign against ­illegally imported refuse.

The Morrison government has a commitment to the states and territories to develop a timetable for a ban on the export of plastic, paper, glass and tyre waste.

Mr Morrison also announced an extra $7.3m for mineral recycling projects and this week in Washington more agreements were advanced to better deal with dangerous and rare minerals.

As Mr Morrison prepares to go to the UN, the Australian co-­founder of hi-tech company ­Atlassian, Mike Cannon-Brookes, who is at the UN, urged him to take action on reducing carbon emissions to prevent global warming. “We’re showing up in New York because we have a responsibility to act,” he said. “The world is here to address a burning issue. We know that we have to do our bit to reduce our impact on the planet. If we don’t, we’re cooked.

“That’s why we are here, with many others, to fly the Australian flag.

“It’s awesome to see the ­business world showing real leadership on climate action. Many have joined Atlassian in committing to net zero emissions; Vodafone, HP, AstraZeneca, Singtel, Unilever and more.

“It’s pretty simple, we are responding to the science.”