SYDNEY, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- One of Australia's most prolific philanthropists, Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest, has launched a 300-million-U.S. dollar bid to tackle plastic pollution by asking companies to pay voluntarily levies for their use of fossil fuel plastics.
The billionaire mining magnate launched the scheme on behalf of his organization, the Minderoo Foundation, on Wednesday saying that an industry-focused approach is the best way to tackle the issue of plastic waste.
"Industry, fully supported by governments and regulators, is the only sector that can drive the urgent, global shift needed to save our oceans from plastic waste," Forrest said in a statement.
Titled "Seas The Future," the project will attach a voluntary levy to the use of fossil fuel plastics making them more expensive to manufacture than those made from recycled materials.
It is hoped that the initiative will attach a higher value to existing plastic goods, increasing collection efforts and creating a circular economy.
So far, a number of the world's major plastics users have responded positively to the initiative including the Coca Cola Company, Walmart Inc, Tesco plc, Unilever plc and India's largest plastics group, Reliance Industries.
President of Coca Cola Brian Smith was among those to commend the Minderoo Foundation and Andrew Forrest for their efforts, which he says recognize the importance of a broadly inclusive stance.
"We recognized that no one entity, government or stakeholder, can solve this issue alone, so we routinely work with organizations and agencies around the world to identify, develop and scale potential solutions," Smith said.
"One such idea is the concept outlined by Minderoo Foundation which with further development, has the potential to accelerate the realization of a circular economy and help arrest the flow of plastic into our environment," Smith said.
