Words: Varun Godinho
Australia consumed four million tonnes of plastic products and packaging (up from 3.9 million tonnes in 2022-2023), according to new figures from the 2023–24 Plastic Flows and Fates Report.
Around 3.2 million tonnes reached end-of-life, with only 14 percent recovered – a rate that has remained stagnant for years.
The report noted that around 87 percent of plastics go directly to landfills.
The Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia (WMRR) is now calling for urgent government action to cut Australia’s reliance on virgin plastics.
“The data is clear – Australia is consuming more virgin plastics while recovery rates remain stubbornly low. This is simply not good enough when we know the devastating environmental, economic, and climate costs of plastic,” WMRR CEO Gayle Sloan says.
“We simply use too much plastic in Australia, and we need to tackle the domestic challenge of that now, by focusing on the entire value chain.”
Australia recovered 446 kilotonnes (kt) of plastics. This was an increase from 426 kt in 2022-23.
Of this, 237 kt (53 percent) was business-to-consumer packaging related, with a recovery rate of 22 percent.
Also, 65 kt (15 percent) was business-to-business packaging related, with a recovery rate of 39 percent and 144 kt (32 percent) was from non-packaging and unidentified applications, with a recovery rate of 7 percent.
Of the total amount recovered, Australia reprocessed approximately 300 kt (67 percent) and exported 145 kt (33 percent) for reprocessing.
This is despite domestic reprocessing capacity nearly doubling to 600 kt, with a further 624 kt planned in the next five years. However, only half of the existing capacity is being used.
“We have the skills and expertise to remanufacture plastics here in Australia, but government leadership is needed to make it viable when competing with virgin plastics,” Sloan says.
Some of the challenges the country faces when it comes to increasing plastic recycling domestically compared to international markets revolve around uncompetitive prices due to higher energy, labour and property costs compared to global markets. Simultaneously, a robust local market for recycled plastics must also be created.
”Australia’s plastic consumption is dominated by imported finished goods (62 percent) and products made from virgin resin (31 percent), with just seven percent produced from recycled plastics. Local production of virgin resins has collapsed over the past 15 years, leaving only polypropylene in domestic manufacture,” Sloan says.
“We must fix the system at home – not just restrict exports of Australian plastic, but reduce imports and build strong domestic demand for recycled materials. It can no longer be acceptable for virgin plastic producers to externalise costs and emissions while recyclers carry the load.
“Australia must match the ambition we see overseas. Otherwise, we will keep exporting our problem and miss the opportunity to create jobs, investment and real progress in the circular economy.”
WMRR is urging federal and state governments to finalise the national extended producer responsibility scheme for packaging, with mandatory design requirements; introduce enforceable recycled content targets across packaging, products and government procurement; phase down virgin plastics through regulatory levers; and introduce a tax or levy on virgin plastics to level the playing field.
Earlier this month, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued a draft determination proposing to grant authorisation to establish a voluntary, industry-led scheme to collect and recycle soft plastic packaging from consumers.
The scheme will be run by Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia (SPSA). It aims to increase the collection and recycling of soft plastic packaging from consumers, such as shopping bags and food wrappers.
Initial members of the scheme are Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, Nestlé, Mars and McCormick Foods.
The scheme is proposed to be funded through a levy on participants based on the amount of business-to-consumer soft plastic packaging they place on the market, which represents the first occasion on which soft plastic packaging is supplied.
