‘Address the problem at its source’: Forrest calls for plastic production tax amid final treaty talks

Mining magnate Andrew Forrest has implored those negotiating an ambitious treaty to end plastic production to include a tax on manufacturers, amid mounting research into the human health impacts. In an opinion piece published by this masthead, the billionaire called on delegates finalising a global treaty to end plastic pollution in South Korea this week to impose a “polymer premium”, arguing the world needed more than downstream measures to avoid a plastic health and environmental crisis. Under the plan, countries would pocket a fee of between US$60-90 (AUD$90-140) per tonne of primary plastic polymer from producers to bankroll waste management infrastructure and address human health impacts.

Billionare Andrew Forrest. Credit: Trevor Collens Countries would retain 10 per cent or more of the revenue from the production of virgin plastic, with the rest redistributed to help low and middle-income nations to help tackle legacy pollution. Forrest encouraged those leading the United Nations Environment Programme negotiations to commit to a robust treaty, known as INC-5, and lambasted those with vested interests he accused of lobbying to weaken it.



“If the world does nothing, if the negotiators just tinker around the edges, we are locking ourselves into a future where we and our kids get sicker and sicker from the plastic chemicals that are building up in our food, our water and our bodies,” he said. “At the most recent round of plastic treaty negotiations in Ottawa, one-in-20 of the more than 4000 delegates was a fossil fuel executive, lobbying for your children to continue to be harmed by toxic chemicals. “These lobbyists and countries with a vested interest will tell you recycling is the solution.

“That the onus is on you, the consumer, to recycle more. What they conveniently neglect to mention is that recycled plastic can be more hazardous than virgin plastic.”.