A Plastic Problem

Speakers: Mr Ian Thomson, Ocean Crusaders; Ms Cip Hamilton, Plastics Campaign Manager, Australian Marine Conservation Society; Dr Nasim Amiralian, Group Leader of Bio-inspired Materials Research and Chair of the Gender Equity and Diversity Commission at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland.

Plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats affecting both our terrestrial and marine environments. New research from the University of Toronto in Canada and CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, estimates that up to 11 million tonnes of plastic pollution is currently sitting on our ocean floor. This is the first estimate of the amount of plastic wastes that end up in the ocean [CSIRO] and further research has concluded that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050 (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2016). Australia is also a major contributor to the global plastic problem as one of the largest waste producers in the OECD (UOW). Australians were predicted to consume more than 1 million tonnes of short-life plastic by the end of 2023 [BTN], very little of which gets recycled (UOW). Join us at our next Geography in Conversation on ‘A Plastic Problem’ to learn more about Australia’s current plastic issues and solutions being implemented from Ocean Crusaders and Australian Marine Conservation Society’s representatives.