EXCLUSIVE Australia comes under fire for shipping plastic garbage as ‘fuel’ after its much-praised waste export ban

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Australia will allow plastic waste to be shipped overseas and used as fuel under a law that was passed last year. This led to criticisms of hypocrisy.

Australia was praised after passing a landmark ban on waste exports to counter a public backlash against rich nations sending trash to poor countries. It often ends up being dumped or burned and leaking into the sea.

A spokesperson for Minister of the Environment SussanLey confirmed that Australia granted a licence for its largest waste-to energy facility to export plastic materials as a fuel to Australia just days after the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act went into effect on July 1.

Cleanaway Waste Management Limited and ResourceCo Pty Ltd. have been granted a licence, which is the first time that Australia has confirmed that it will ship plastic trash as Processed Engineered Fuel (PEF).

ResourceCo declined to comment, and Cleanaway didn’t respond to a request to comment.

PEF, a waste-derived fuel, is used by cement companies and incinerators as a cheap alternative for coal. It is promoted as a way to reduce fossil fuel consumption.

Scientists and environmentalists believe that plastic fuels are harmful to the environment, increase greenhouse gas emissions, and release toxic chemicals that can pose a risk to public health.

Environmental groups claimed that Australia had misled the public, and that its waste would continue polluting developing countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, which has become the main destination of the rich world’s trash.

Jane Bremmer (plastic advisor to the International Pollutants Elimination Network) stated that “Australians were very proud of their world-first “waste export ban”.

“Now we see that this was disingenuous, a cynical announcement political as they are rebranding their plastic waste exports into fuel.”

Ley’s spokesperson stated that the law allows processed plastic to be exported and that only a “small number” of export licenses have been issued.

According to the spokesperson, there is no data available on the amount of plastic that has been exported as fuel since the ban was implemented or information about where it was sent.

WASTE CRISIS

Australia’s new law prohibits the export of mixed waste plastics, which could include hard-to-recycle items such as bags, polystyrene cup and bubble wrap.

It allows for the shipment of plastic waste that has not been separated, such as bales made of drinks bottles that can then be sent to recyclers abroad as well as “processed” waste fuels.

Ley’s spokesperson confirmed that Australia provided $30million ($21.6million) in loans for ResourceCo and Cleanaway in order to build a plant in New South Wales. This plant will process 250,000 tons of waste per year and turn it into fuel for a nearby cement plant and exports to Asia.

As only 10% of plastic waste worldwide is recycled, plastic burning is becoming more popular as a fuel to eliminate the soaring volume of single-use plastic trash.

The plastic production industry is expected to double in the next 20 years.

Reuters discovered that plastic-to-fuel projects in developing countries like Indonesia are being funded by big oil companies and major brands that make plastic.

The United Nations members held a summit in Nairobi last week to discuss terms for the first ever treaty on plastic pollution. This includes the role of waste-to fuel processes. Continue reading

According to local media, Ley, the Australian Environment Minister, stated this month that she would use the summit to encourage other countries to follow Australia’s lead on bans on waste exports to ensure plastic is not shipped overseas where it becomes a problem.

However, environmentalists from Southeast Asia claim that Australia’s rebranding as a vehicle for plastic waste has raised concerns about rich countries agreeing to continue exporting polluting material to the developing nations.

Aileen Luciero, National Coordinator of EcoWaste Coalition in the Philippines, stated that Southeast Asia is still the dumping ground for wastes and other discards for the industrialised world.

“This not just exacerbates health and environmental risks, but also increases the waste crisis facing countries like Philippines.”

Reporting by Joe Brock, Kanupriya Kapoor and Nick Macfie; Editing by Nick Macfie

Our Standards The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles