Earlier this week, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that it had to hand “confidential documents prepared for industry stakeholders”, which cited 2021 plastics recycling figures for Australia at 16 per cent (lower than the 18 per cent cited in 2020). The National Packaging Target for plastic recycling is 70 per cent by 2025.
To change the trajectory, recycling infrastructure would have to ramp up significantly. The pending Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) report will show current and planned investment will create capacity to recycle 60 per cent of plastic packaging placed on market.
For the packaging industry, and the brand owners they supply, this is not the time to lay down the tools and take a rain check. It's time to face reality.
As APCO CEO Chris Foley has pointed out many times since he stepped into the role late last year, this is the time to reset fast, and pursue the collaborative initiatives already underway with a view to scaling.
With Government making it clear that it’s ready to intervene with legislation, Foley is on record as saying the consequences of not moving forward could be quite punitive.
At a recent industry conference, Foley said, plastic is a victim of its own success – durable, protective, transparent, and cheap. Its market growth has supercharged in recent years, up from 15kg per person in 2012 to 21kg in 2021.
He said, “There is no doubt we need systems-wide structural solutions, and we really need to
regain consumer confidence in recycling, which has collapsed following the REDcycle programme suspension.”
Next week, at the AIP Australian Packaging Conference, 2025 & Beyond, global and local industry leaders will be exploring what the reset looks like, while sharing news on projects that have kicked off successfully (for example, the Circular Plastics Australia PET cross industry collaboration), or are in advanced trial phase (like the industry-led National Plastics Recycling Scheme (NRPS).
AFGC CEO speaks out
Responding to the SMH article, Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) CEO Tanya Barden said while the low rate of plastic packaging recycling is disappointing for industry, projections for future recycling capacity show important progress is being made.
