Mr. John Chave:

I can respond to Senator O'Sullivan's question about microplastics and microbeads. She is absolutely correct that the major source of this problem is secondary microplastics. There is a European process, as I think the committee is aware, which is looking at intentionally added microplastics across a range of industries, not just our industry. There is, therefore, a slightly broader process in hand at European level which we can talk about a little in the discussion if members so wish. However, I think my colleagues from GMIT would agree that intentionally added microplastics are only a small fraction of the problem and that the bigger problem is the secondary microplastics such as those resulting from tyre abrasion and so forth.