How many people today grab a takeaway coffee cup from the local cafe to drink on the go? We don’t know, but the number must be enormous.. Most every one of the above have a plastic top that will last 100s of years. Some cafes still use plastic cups that last a similar time. Is 10 minutes of coffee worth 100s of years of trash?
These items can be seen littering our gutters and on our streets all over the place. If they were all cardboard, they would still be littered, but they would, at least, be gone in a short time.
They do not need to be made of plastic.
On the way home from the gym last week, a distance of about 1 km (1/2 mile), I counted the items of plastic litter on the curb as I walked. In that short distance I counted 63 pieces of plastic litter. Plastic drink bottles, bottle tops, candy wrappers, plastic film, polystyrene fragments etc. That seemed to be a lot to me. I guess it is a generational thing. Our parents would have been horrified to see that amount, whereas it seems to go unnoticed by our youth of today. In another 20 years how many pieces will there be on this stretch, -- 200? What will today’s youth think of that new amount then when they are older? Will their children be so readily accepting of a higher amount of litter? 
Recyclers warn government delay is sending one million tonnes of plastic to landfill
Posted on July 29, 2026 by DrRossH in Landfills and Disposal, Plastic Limiting Regulations
Australia’s recyclers warn that more than a million tonnes of plastic packaging is still being sent to landfill every year.
Source: Recyclers warn government delay is sending one million tonnes of plastic to landfill
Australia uses more than 1.3 million tonnes of plastic packaging every year, yet only 19 per cent is collected for recycling. More than one million tonnes is landfilled or littered annually.
Toumbourou said the reason is not a lack of technology. Around the country, an estimated 320,000 tonnes of Australian plastic reprocessing capacity is standing ready, much of it sitting idle. She said the Australian Government’s failure to deliver promised packaging reform is putting recyclers in commercial peril with some plants facing closure.
“What makes the delay so hard to justify is the cumulative cost of doing nothing, which could exceed $32 billion by 2050, while plastic waste in Australia rises to almost five million tonnes a year,” Toumbourou said.
“All the while, sophisticated recycling facilities are operating below capacity. Recyclers invested in the infrastructure, technology and skills needed to remanufacture plastic packaging in Australia on the strength of government commitments to reform. They have now been left in dire straits by repeated delay.”
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