Delays on packaging reform create more plastic waste

Australia uses more than 1.3 million tonnes of plastic packaging every year, yet only 19% is collected for recycling, according to The Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR). More than one million tonnes of this used plastic packaging is sent to landfill or is littered annually.

The organisation said the reason for this is not a lack of technology, as an estimated 320,000 tonnes of Australian plastic reprocessing capacity is standing ready, much of it sitting idle.

ACOR said that it is the Australian Government’s continued delay to deliver packaging reform that is the reason recyclers are left in “severe commercial peril” with some plants facing closure.

“What makes the delay so hard to justify is the cumulative cost of doing nothing, which could exceed $32 billion by 2050, while plastic waste in Australia rises to almost five million tonnes a year,” said ACOR CEO Suzanne Toumbourou. “All the while, sophisticated recycling facilities are operating below capacity. This is not a shortage of infrastructure. It is a failure of Australian Government policy.

“Recyclers invested in the infrastructure, technology and skills needed to remanufacture plastic packaging in Australia on the strength of government commitments to reform. They have now been left in dire straits by repeated delay.”

In 2023, Australia’s environment ministers committed to national packaging reform by 2025, including mandatory standards for packaging design, recyclability and recycled content. The government has not yet delivered those reforms.

Without national requirements and incentives to use Australian recycled content, local recyclers are being undercut by cheaper imported plastic.

National utilisation of plastic recycling infrastructure is around 50% and could fall to 30% by 2030 without action.

“The Australian Government helped fund recycling plants and prohibited the export of unprocessed plastic waste, but failed to create the regulatory and market settings needed for that material to be remade into new products,” Toumbourou said.

“That failure now threatens the very facilities the government helped fund. Facilities cannot survive indefinitely at half capacity. Once plants close, Australia loses the equipment, workforce, technical expertise and sovereign capability needed to recycle its own plastic.”

ACOR said Europe provides a warning. Around one million tonnes of European plastic recycling capacity was lost between 2023 and 2025 as recyclers were squeezed by weak demand, high operating costs and cheap imports. It said Australia is now following the same path.

Modelling shows reform could cut wasted plastic by 370,000 tonnes a year, reduce emissions by 700,000 tonnes annually, generate $2.5 billion in economic activity, support almost 20,000 Australian jobs and attract a further $220 million in private investment. ACOR said continued inaction, by contrast, means plant closures, lost jobs, more plastic waste and deeper dependence on imported virgin plastic.

“The cost of reform is negligible. The cost of Australian Government delay is staggering,” Toumbourou said. “The government must commit to a firm timeline to introduce mandatory national packaging laws that hold producers responsible for the packaging they place on the market and drive demand for Australian recycled content.

“Plastic Free July is ending with more plastic going to waste and Australian recycling capacity at risk of shrinking. Australians have done their part. Industry has invested. The Australian Government must now commit to firm timeframes this year and get on with the job.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Neustockimages