A conference addressing the impact of pollution on Australia's oceans will be held in Sydney from 30 October to 1 November.
The conference is called Beyond plastic pollution: Pathways to cleaner oceans, and is run by Boomerang Alliance, a network of 47 environmental and local government organisations focused on eradicating plastic pollution from waste streams and oceans.
Boomerang Alliance claims to have driven much of the container deposit legislation and plastic bag bans that have been implemented around Australia.
The conference will bring together local, state and federal government representatives, plastics manufacturing industries, impacted business, community groups, academia, and the scientific community.
It will address:
- the sources and impacts of Marine Plastic Pollution (MPP)
- the truth about alternative materials including bioplastics
- the application of voluntary vs regulatory frameworks
- the role of community and citizen science in monitoring the state of play with plastics in our oceans
- methodologies to drive desirable behaviour change
- how to plug the knowledge gaps in scientific research that will provide the evidence required for decision-makers to take effective action
- regulator levers and best practice options to address the current perverse outcomes.
