The Greens welcome the federal government pursuing a lawsuit against 3M Company over the contamination of dozens of communities across Australia with toxic “forever chemicals” but warn Australia lags behind other countries in implementing domestic bans on these harmful substances.
Greens spokesperson for Waste and Recycling, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson:
“The Greens congratulate the federal government for taking on 3M Company and for seeking justice on behalf of all Australians who have unfairly had their communities impacted by toxic forever chemicals.
“Big corporate producers and retailers of plastics and plastic packaging currently have no obligation to take responsibility for the products they unleash into the world.
“The onus is currently placed on the waste and resource recovery sector to safely manage the recycling or disposal of plastic packaging products that contain PFAS. This is an untenable situation.
“To end the plastic waste crisis, we need to change the system that creates it. Australia desperately needs legislation and regulation that addresses plastic waste and PFAS at the design stage instead of waiting for these pollutants to be created, only to then work out how to manage them.
“If action is not taken to manage PFAS out of packaging Australia risks becoming the global dumping ground given other countries have taken this action years ago.
“The Greens have been raising the alarm on PFAS for many years and implore the government to ban all types of PFAS across all uses – including in consumer packaging, agrichemicals, and cosmetic products, and to adopt a design-first approach by regulating harmful chemicals and contaminants out of packaging to prevent pollution at the source.”