CANBERRA, March 20 -- Australia's national science agency has made a commitment to help reduce the country's plastic waste by 80 percent over 10 years.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) on Sunday announced a further investment in its Ending Plastic Waste Mission.

The initiative will receive 50 million Australian dollars (37.1 million U.S. dollars) in funding from the CSIRO, industry, governments and universities to develop cutting-edge innovations for how Australia makes, uses, recycles and disposes of plastics.

Australians currently use 1 million tonnes of single use plastic every year, only 12 percent of which is recycled.

Larry Marshall, chief executive of the CSIRO, said that without significant action the plastic waste problem would continue to grow.

"The Ending Plastic Waste Mission will bring together the whole innovation system, from government, industry and academia to turn science into solutions that will benefit the environment and create economic opportunities for Australia," he said in a media release.

"By turning plastic waste into a renewable resource, the Mission will deliver collaborative scientific and manufacturing capabilities to drive new technologies across the entire plastics supply chain and grow Australia's circular economy."

The CSIRO launched its "Team Australia" missions project in August 2020 with an aim of using major scientific and collaborative research initiatives to solve the country's biggest challenges including plastic waste, climate change uncertainty, pandemics and natural disasters.

  - Xinhua