25 September 2025

That this council—

1. Notes that:

(a) of the 17.75 billion cigarettes estimated to be consumed in Australia each year, between 30 to 75 per cent end up as litter;

(b) cigarette waste makes up to 14 per cent of total waste items found during Clean Up Australia Day;

(c) 34 per cent of total litter counted by KESAB is cigarette waste; and

(d) at the Conference of Parties (COP10) in February 2024, the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control has resolved to urge signatories to take action on the environmental impact of cigarette waste.

2. Acknowledges that littered cigarette butts:

(a) contain cellulose acetate and can take 15 years to break down in seawater;

(b) create plastic microfibres as they degrade; and

(c) contain over 7,000 chemicals and one butt can contaminate 40 litres of water.

3. Recognises that:

(a) Spain has introduced regulations to require tobacco companies to pay for the clean-up of cigarettes;

(b) San Francisco collects litter tax from retailers and charges tobacco companies for the cost of cleaning up; and

(c) the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority has initiated consultation on cigarette butts through introducing design standards to design out plastic tobacco filters.

4. Calls on the Malinauskas government to:

(a) take any possible action to ensure the tobacco industry is accountable for the waste they produce; and

(b) raise the matter with the national environment ministers at their next meeting.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (22:28): Isn't it nice, we can all be friends again now, a moment of unity, as we all come together to tackle cigarette butt waste. I do want to thank all of the speakers on this bill: the Hon. Sarah Game, the Hon. Russell Wortley, the Hon. Frank Pangallo and the Hon. Jing Lee. I note that the Hon. Connie Bonaros had five words for the Hon. Mr Wortley. I can only say 'thank you' to the honourable member for his contribution. He has set out, I think quite clearly, the rationale for action on this issue, and other speakers have dwelt on that, so I do not need to go into the details in terms of why action on this is required.

I do want to take just a brief moment, though, to acknowledge the leadership of the environment minister, Deputy Premier Susan Close, on this. When I introduced my private member's bill last year, looking at this issue of cigarette butt waste, I reached out to the minister and I have met with her and her office a number of times to talk about this issue.

It is my impression that the minister has a genuine desire to want to do something in this regard. I appreciate the undertaking that has been given to raise this issue at the next national meeting in the hope that we can see a coordinated approach, recognising that this is of course bigger than just South Australia.

I also acknowledge the leadership of both sides of politics here in this state in that regard, in particular the leadership of the former environment minister, the Hon. David Speirs, who did a lot of work in terms of reducing waste. I think it is a credit to South Australia that that work has been undertaken in a bipartisan way. It would be great if we could see South Australia leading the way again in terms of targeting cigarette butts as a significant contributor to waste.

Motion carried.

11 September 2024

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (16:54): I also rise to speak on this committee report. Like the Hon. Tung Ngo, I want to acknowledge the work of my colleagues on the committee. In particular, I want to commend the leadership of the Hon. Heidi Girolamo, who moved to establish this committee. The honourable member moved to establish this committee because of the failure of some of our big corporations to deal with this matter, and so it was very useful and informative from my perspective. I also acknowledge the work of the other members on the committee, the Hon. Tung Ngo, the Hon. Justin Hanson and the Hon. Michelle Lensink.

I will make some brief remarks. As other members have noted, soft plastics are the fastest growing plastic packaging category and are almost always single use. According to research by the Minderoo Foundation, Australians generate more single-use plastic waste per capita than any other country in the world, about 60 kilograms a year. I find that staggering. According to the government's National Plastics Plan, Australia goes through 70 billion pieces of soft plastics each year which translates to almost 3,000 pieces of plastic per person.

The collapse of REDcycle in November 2022 was a shock for many South Australians, who had been diligently separating their soft plastics to return to their local supermarket for collection. The abrupt halt to the scheme left many South Australians bitterly disappointed. One of the elements that did disappoint me, in terms of the evidence that we heard from some of the supermarkets, was that they were still advertising things as being recyclable when that was not the case. It is frustrating that some of these large corporations and big food retailers are not taking responsibility for ensuring that there is appropriate packaging.

Soft plastics contribute significantly to landfill waste in Australia making up a large portion of the plastic waste generated in the country. They also considerably impact ocean pollution, as was noted by the Hon. Tung Ngo, as they can be easily transported by wind and water, ending up in waterways and eventually reaching the ocean. Moreover, the production and disposal of soft plastics generates greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to climate change.

The effects of soft plastic waste on wildlife and natural ecosystems are devastating, resulting in decreased biodiversity, destruction of habitats and interference with natural processes. Minimising these effects and safeguarding our environment necessitates appropriate waste management and recycling. Fortunately, South Australians will again be able to recycle their soft plastics thanks to a partnership between the state and federal governments. We welcome that news. It happened whilst the committee was in train.

Recycling Plastics Australia has received a $20 million federal grant to set up advanced recycling technology at its Kilburn centre, which now allows soft plastics to be recycled. I understand this will divert more than 14,000 tonnes of soft plastics from South Australian landfills every year. That is a good outcome. Soft plastics, including shopping bags, chip packets and food wrappers, will be cleaned and purified to create feedstock for new plastic packaging.

Like the Hon. Tung Ngo, I was interested to hear about the issue regarding paper bags. I agree that there is work for big supermarket chains to do there to make that more accessible for consumers. One thing worth noting about this committee was that we reached a cross-party consensus on the recommendations. There are some really sensible suggestions for the state government to take up, and I look forward to their response.

One of the issues I am particularly passionate about, and it is included in the recommendations, is looking at this issue of government procurement. I will particularly draw the chamber's attention to that recommendation because I think this is one of those areas where government can really show some leadership.

One of the recommendations is that Green Industries SA partner with Procurement Services SA to update the procurement governance policy, the Green procurement guideline and other relevant procurement policies or guidelines to require South Australian government agencies to procure goods and services that, where applicable, incorporate no less than 50 per cent recycled soft plastics or replacements with a compostable alternative, and eliminate soft plastic waste in the delivery of goods and services by 2026.

It is also recommended that Green Industries SA partner with the Department for Infrastructure and Transport to set targets for the use of recycled soft plastics in construction projects to drive demand, that Green Industries SA partner with the Local Government Association to set targets for the use of recycled soft plastics in council projects, and that Green Industries SA partner with the Local Government Association to do terminative changes required to the Local Government Act to require councils to incorporate no less than 50 per cent recycled soft plastics.

The reason for this is that a lot of these soft plastics can be converted into materials that we can use. I have read before, and I am aware of projects on the city council, of involving the use of plastics for bitumen. There are examples of this in other jurisdictions. I understand that it can be used for making things like park benches. I have heard of it being used in construction materials. That is a really good outcome.

There is an industry here in South Australia that could be supported. One way to do that is for the government itself to set very clear procurement requirements, and for local councils in particular, so that when they are undertaking roadworks and the like they can have regard to that. I thank the Hon. Heidi Girolamo for proposing this, and all other committee members for their work and the work of the secretariat in compiling a very thorough report.

15 May 2024

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (17:06): I move:

That this council—

1. Notes that:

(a) of the 17.75 billion cigarettes estimated to be consumed in Australia each year, between 30 per cent to 75 per cent end up as litter;

(b) cigarette waste makes up to 14 per cent of total waste items found during Clean Up Australia Day;

(c) 34 per cent of total litter counted by KESAB is cigarette waste; and

(d) at the Conference of Parties (COP10) in February 2024, the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control has resolved to urge signatories to take action on the environmental impact of cigarette waste.

2. Acknowledges that littered cigarette butts:

(a) contain cellulose acetate and can take 15 years to break down in sea water;

(b) create plastic microfibres as they degrade; and

(c) contain over 7,000 chemicals and one butt can contaminate 40 litres of water.

3. Recognises that:

(a) Spain has introduced regulations to require tobacco companies to pay for the clean-up of cigarettes;

(b) San Francisco collects litter tax from retailers and charges tobacco companies for the cost of cleaning up; and

(c) the NSW Environment Protection Authority has initiated consultation on cigarette butts through introducing design standards to design out plastic tobacco filters.

4. Calls on the Malinauskas government to:

(a) take any possible action to ensure the tobacco industry is kept accountable for the waste they produce; and

(b) raise the matter with the national environment ministers at their next meeting.

This motion notes the huge amount of cigarette waste that is consumed in Australia each year. It notes the number of cigarettes that are consumed. People are not necessarily consuming the cigarette waste, although cigarettes are adverse to their health. This motion notes that of the 17.75 billion cigarettes estimated to be consumed in Australia each year, between 30 to 75 per cent of those end up as litter. Indeed, cigarette waste makes up 14 per cent of total waste items found during Clean Up Australia Day, and 34 per cent of total litter that is counted by KESAB is cigarette waste.

There have been efforts around the world to make cigarette companies responsible for the waste that they produce. Indeed, early last year I introduced a bill that would have set up a mechanism whereby these cigarette companies could be taken to task for the waste that they produce. In Spain, they have introduced regulations to require tobacco companies to do that. San Francisco now collects litter waste from retailers and charges tobacco companies for the cost associated with cleaning up, and the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority has initiated consultation on cigarette butts through introducing design standards to design out plastic tobacco filters.

This is calling on the Malinauskas government to take any action possible to ensure the tobacco industry is kept accountable for the waste they produce and, critically, to raise the matter with the national environment ministers at their next meeting to see if there can be a national coordinated approach to this issue.

Cigarette butt waste is terrible for our environment. Some interesting statistics for you: cigarette butts contain over 7,000 toxic chemicals, including arsenic, lead and nicotine. When these butts are littered, they leach these harmful substances into our waterways and soils. It is estimated that each cigarette butt can contaminate up to 40 litres of water. Water in South Australia, as we all know too well, is a precious resource, and it is not acceptable for that level of pollution to be in what little we have.

Beyond the leaching of chemicals, cigarette butts are also slow to degrade in the environment, and they release microplastics; that is, tiny plastic fibres that are almost impossible to remove once they are dispersed. These microplastics are ingested by our marine life, they work their way up the food chain, and they expose humans also to these harmful effects.

Cigarettes are not just terrible for community health. I know the Hon. Frank Pangallo is passionate about that issue and is raising that with some law reform ideas, and I am certainly very interested to learn more about that. As well as cracking down on the impact of cigarettes on community health, we also need to look at what we can do to make these big companies responsible for the terrible effect they have on the environment.

Just two years ago, The Guardian reported that microplastics had been found in human blood for the first time, with almost 80 per cent of people tested showing that microplastics were present. I find that startling. There are concerns that microplastics can lodge in human organs and other body systems, and we do not yet fully understand the health implications of that.

The environmental impact of cigarette waste is a problem that is only getting worse. However, as I indicated in my introductory remarks, some jurisdictions around the world are taking action. In Spain, regulations have now been developed that require cigarette companies to pay for the clean-up of the litter, and in San Francisco retailers are charging what is known as a litter tax, with the proceeds going towards the cost of collecting and disposing of cigarette waste. Here in Australia action is being taken on this in New South Wales.

We in the Greens would like to see the Malinauskas government follow the lead of these other jurisdictions and take action on this to ensure that we hold the feet of these big tobacco companies to the fire to ensure they take responsibility for the waste they produce.

17 May 2023

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (17:05): I rise to speak in favour of this motion. The Greens, of course, are supportive of the establishment of this committee. In doing so, I want to acknowledge the leadership of all sides of politics in terms of trying to tackle and reduce waste. It would be remiss of me, I think, if I did not acknowledge the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition in this regard during his time as environment minister, when he championed legislation that led the country in terms of reducing single-use plastics. That was a really important innovation, so I acknowledge his leadership in that regard and also the leadership of the Labor Party, and more recently the support the government has provided to a Greens bill to allow for BYO containers to be brought into food establishments to reduce waste.

There is lots of work that is being done but there is always space to do more, and it is in that spirit that the Greens welcome this committee, particularly when one considers the problems that have been plaguing the use of soft plastics. Avoiding, reducing, re-using and recycling waste is integral to effective waste management and to achieving zero waste in our state. Waste, including soft plastics, should be treated as a resource and re-used to create new products in a way that achieves the maximum social, economic and environmental benefit.

A circular economy, as we all know, leads to new industries and to new investment. REDcycle was a program that was first established to divert plastic bags and other soft plastics from landfill, turning them into resources used to manufacture new products. According to Clean Up Australia, Australians throw away about 7,150 recyclable bags a minute, or 429,000 per hour—429,000 per hour. This figure does not include the countless bread bags, frozen vegetable bags, pasta bags, biscuit packets and sachets that consumers bring home from the supermarket every single time they shop.

Plastic bags and packaging cannot be collected by most local councils as part of their kerbside pickup; instead, they typically end up in landfill or as litter, and we know that that harms our wildlife and our environment. The REDcycle program was a voluntary, industry-led initiative and a true product stewardship model where everybody involved in the cycle of a product's packaging, including the manufacturers, the retailers and the consumers, chose to share responsibility for the best end-of-life outcome.

Consumers would collect all of the soft plastics that cannot be recycled at home and drop them into the REDcycle program drop-off bins at participating supermarkets. The collected plastic was then returned to RED Group's facility for initial processing and then delivered to Australian manufacturer Replas where they underwent transformation. The resulting recycled plastic products were then turned into items such as fitness circuits, sturdy outdoor furniture, bollards and other products. These products were extremely robust, as well as water and termite resistant, and not susceptible to cracking, splintering or rotting, and they did not even require painting, so a very effective way to use that waste.

The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation estimates that less than 5 per cent of consumer soft plastic was collected by the REDcycle program. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic heralded a boom in online shopping which, in turn, resulted in soft plastic collection volumes increasing by more than 350 per cent since 2019—350 per cent since 2019. This, coupled with a reduced demand for recycled products, led to stockpiling of collected soft plastics, forcing REDcycle to pause their program in November 2022. No longer able to pay the storage fees, REDcycle was declared insolvent, and that was a really disappointing outcome.

Since then, the Soft Plastics Taskforce has been established, and the Greens have very much welcomed this development. The task force is made up of the major supermarket retailers Aldi, Coles and Woolworths and has released the Roadmap to Restart, outlining the steps needed to launch a new supermarket soft plastic collection scheme in Australia. However, several challenges do remain, confronting those seeking to relaunch a scheme. These include limited access to domestic soft plastic recycling that can manage the soft plastics that are deposited by the public in supermarket collection bins and an inability to recycle the volume of household soft plastics collected in a supermarket program using domestic infrastructure.

It is paramount for our community and our planet that we are able to deal with these challenges. To ensure the viability of soft plastics recycling schemes, our state needs to both increase its capacity to recycle soft plastics at scale and ensure the market for the end product is either equal to or greater than the amount of soft plastics being collected for recycling.

According to the Soft Plastics Taskforce's current plan, an initial in-store collection pilot is anticipated to launch in select stores in late 2023, provided that REDcycle's existing soft plastic stockpiles can be cleared. The new program would then be gradually rolled out nationwide next year. At the same time, I understand the Australian Food and Grocery Council is developing the National Plastics Recycling Scheme to take hard-to-recycle soft plastic packaging out of waste streams and give it a new life, making it easier for people to recycle soft plastics at home.

Restoring public trust in soft plastic recycling schemes is vitally important. This place has a responsibility to the community and to future generations to not only support but ensure that these schemes are successful. The proposed select committee will have an important role to play in investigating solutions that will ensure the viability and functionality of these schemes. The Greens are pleased to support the committee, and we look forward to seeing how this matter progresses.