The Greens have praised the South Australian Liberal government for continuing the state's leadership on the environment with a ban on single-use plastics. They will continue to work toward a ban on single-use plastics at a national level with a Bill to be introduced to the Senate.

“South Australians are proud of their environmental credentials. We’ve led the way on renewables, and now the Marshall government is listening to the people and moving beyond single-use plastics,” SA Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

Waste & Recycling spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, today welcomed Labor’s new commitment to tackling Australia’s waste crisis but urged them to go further. 

“After more than 10 years of gathering dust under successive Labor and Liberal Governments, the Greens welcome Labor’s new commitment to kickstarting parts of the 2009 National Waste Plan.

Greens spokesperson for Healthy Oceans, Senator Whish-Wilson, has called on Village Roadshow to stop tying red helium balloons to stormwater drains to promote the Stephen King movie IT because the balloons will undoubtedly enter the ocean and cause the deaths of our marine life.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “When I saw photos of the red helium balloons tied to stormwater drains in Sydney I was furious. When balloons end up in the ocean they float and get swallowed by sea-birds, dolphins, whales and turtles.

Greens spokesperson for waste and recycling, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, provides the following comments on the successful move by the Greens to establish a Senate Inquiry into the future of the recycling industry following the exposé on Four Corners.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “I have been pursuing these issues in the recycling industry for years but the recent Four Corners episode has really brought the crisis out into the open.

Greens spokesperson on Waste & Recycling, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, responded to Monday’s 4 Corners program that exposed the crisis in Australia’s recycling industry.

“This problem has been a long time coming. The fall in commodity prices has demolished the previously successful business model based around co-mingled kerbside recycling.

“The response of government to this slow building crisis has been woeful. Millions of Australians have been diligently sorting their rubbish all for nothing. This is an outrage.