These plastic bags will be collected through the scheme, with one tonne of bags equalling one plastic credit.abc.net.au/news/plastic-credits-scheme-targets-banana-industry-waste/102355104Australia's first plastic credits scheme has been launched to target banana industry waste, but the recycling industry is calling for scrutiny.
General manager for operations at GreenCollar Anjali Nelson says driving investment into recycling in regional areas is the project's aim."The idea is that you can measure plastics that you have removed from the environment or plastic that you have sent for recycling that would not have otherwise been sent for recycling," she said.
"Where we can't find appropriate recyclers, then they're going to engineered landfill so that they are safely disposed of.Australian Council of Recycling chief executive Suzanne Toumbourou said she endorsed recycling efforts in regional areas but when plastic was being put in landfill it was "hard to tell" what environmental change was being made.
"[ACOR] was very pleased to see the ACCC's announcement that they would be applying a lot more scrutiny to environmental claims made in Australia by business," she said."We want to make sure that we're truly rewarding and recognising really great environmental, sustainable outcomes ... we need to distinguish them from initiatives that don't deliver those good outcomes.
Research and development manager Rosie Godwin said most banana bunch bag waste was landfilled or stockpiled farms, and occasionally sent for recycling."The main thing we want to do in the first stage is to get the plastics off-farm and aggregated so that we can do something with it," she said.