A Senate inquiry is recommending that all single-use plastics be banned by 2023.  These include items such as takeaway containers, chip packets and coffee cups with plastic linings.

Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson chaired the inquiry.  This week he praised the "rare display of political consensus" from Greens, Labor, and the Liberals on teh report.

"The Senate has laid down a clear pathway for Australia to create a circular economy and stop piles of plastic, paper and glass being stockpiled or heading to landfill," Whish-Wilson said.

The inquiry's wide-ranging report also calls for creating a "circular economy" in which all materials used in Australia are recovered, reused, and/or recycled.  It comes amid a growing recycling crisis caused by China's decision to stop buying the majority of our recyclable material.  China used to purchase up to 50 percent of Aussie recyleables, but that stopped as of 1 January and the junk is now piling up at recycling center.