♻️Pollution vs. Recycling – Microplastics from plastic recycling and PFAS from composting♻️
Joel Khouri (Principal Engineer, Integrated Water Planning) presented on this fun bed-time topic at the Queensland Environmental Law Association 2025 Annual Conference, “The Juggling Act”.
Joel outlined the benefits and unexpected downsides of PFAS and plastic, summarised our current understanding of health and environmental risks, and ran through two case-studies juggling pollution and waste recovery, with efforts to resolve the issue through treatment and management technologies.
🌱Key takeaways:
🔬The pitfalls of developing compounds to be resilient that we and animals have not evolved alongside, and the rigorous investigation that should be undertaken before launch.
⚖️Environmental regulation must be updated frequently and consistently between states, backed by robust emerging science.
♻️The importance of source control. For PFAS this means banning PFAS in imported products and isolating contaminated sites, for plastic this means reducing single-use plastic and reducing microplastic generation in the plastic recycling process.
Great work Joel!
