Main Club 6th May 2022
Our main speaker was environmental scientist Dr Peter Novak, a specialist in freshwater and estuarine ecosystems. He has done extensive work on the Swan-Canning Estuary and the Vasse River, and wetlands and river systems in Australia’s north. Peter’s talk was augmented by two other speakers – Joanne O’Connor and Zoe Beeson.
Joanne is a Senior Environmental Officer with Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER). She said there was a need for baseline information before implementing WA’s Plan for Plastics, which began in January this year, with bans on certain items and promoted single-use plastics.
Next year, the Plan will support retailers and suppliers in reducing plastic use and a community education program. She said that three-quarters of litter on beaches is plastic, and it’s ours – not from overseas. Australia has the world’s highest consumption of plastics per capita. She said that recycling is not the answer because only 11% of plastic is recycled globally, and it can only be recycled two or three times. “Greenwashing” would have us believe that some plastics break down completely, but they just become smaller pieces of plastic. So-called compostable plastic takes many years to degrade.
Over 300 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year globally, and an estimated 8 million tonnes get into the oceans. Peter then talked about the deleterious effects of plastics on organisms in oceans and waterways. They can cause entanglement, injury, and starvation, and they can have digestive enzyme impacts and potential endocrine impacts.
Peter has been surveying the Swan-Canning Estuary with DBCA and DWER to find the distribution, abundance and types of plastic, sampling four times a year at 38 sites. The Rivers and Estuaries Science Program aims to provide scientific support for environmental management. Heavy metal and pesticide distribution have already been investigated. Peter’s team used beach transects, whole-site sweeps, and surface water trawls for plastic. Most were found on the south- and west-facing beaches due to prevailing winds and winter storms. Most were polystyrene, followed by fragmented hard and soft plastics. Nurdles (pellets used in plastic manufacture) were common in places resulting from spillages. Tiny plastic filaments were very abundant. Peter referred to UWA PhD student, Tom Crutchett, on microplastics – tiny fibres that appear to be ubiquitous. The good news is that our river has good fish populations and that the seagrass meadows are largely intact.
Zoe then talked about DBCA’s Plastic Free Riverpark Program, which works with riverfront food and beverage businesses, helped by small grants, to reduce single-use plastics and transition to zero waste. Curtin University is measuring plastic waste in selected drains. The Boomerang Alliance will help businesses source reusable and compostable packaging. It is also working with riverfront local government agencies to remove single-use plastics from community events.
The main message for us is the importance of reducing our use of plastics, re-using bags and containers where possible, and recycling what can properly be recycled.
Mike Gregson