Leading plastic recycler and sustainable packaging manufacturer Pact Group has entered into a strategic partnership with Aldi Australia to supply recycled plastic packaging for some of the retail giant’s own brand products.
This is another step forward for Pact Group's onshore circular plastic initiatives, following a similar partnership formed with Woolworths Group in 2022.
PKN spoke to Pact Group CEO Sanjay Dayal, who explained that under the new partnership, Pact and Aldi will work together to give the retailer's third party supply partners access to more sustainable packaging options for Aldi's exclusive brand products, such as milk bottles, meat trays, fruit and vegetable punnets, beverage bottles and shampoo bottles.
Pact will manufacture the packaging at its facilities in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland using recycled PET and HDPE plastic resins. As PKN readers are aware, Pact is fast expanding its recycling capabilities through several joint venture partnerships under the Circular Plastics Australia banner, which will see the company increase capacity for manufacturing containers incorporating recycled content.
Dayal said: “We are delighted to be working with Aldi to drive positive change and reduce the amount of plastic waste going to landfill. Recycled plastic packaging that is designed and manufactured effectively, recycled properly, and disposed of correctly is the key to building a successful circular economy in Australia.”
Dayal, who has been outspoken on the need for government intervention on legislation and packaging mandates, told PKN he welcomed the recent announcement by the Environment Minister that will see the Australian Packaging industry face stricter regulations in the near future.
“It's a very positive step, industry needs a trigger to effect change faster, our current performance against the National Packaging Targets is woeful. I don't believe the mandates will be necessary forever, but certainly for a while to implement the use of at least 30 per cent recycled content in any packaging that's manufactured, among other necessary changes, including stepping up on improving collection infrastructure,” Dayal said.
The Pact–Aldi partnership represents an important step forward for both companies to achieve their sustainability goals.
Pact says it has a vision to lead the circular economy and has set a target of eliminating all non-recyclable packaging it produces and offer an average of 30 per cent recycled content across its packaging portfolio by 2025. Aldi has committed to reducing plastic packaging by 25 per cent and include 30 per cent recycled content in its plastic packaging by 2025.
Aldi Australia’s managing director Buying, Oliver Bongardt said: “As one of Australia’s largest grocery retailers, we understand the important role we play in reducing our use of plastic and improving the circularity of our product packaging. We are pleased to be partnering with Pact to introduce more sustainable packaging options, which will accelerate progress towards our plastics and packaging commitments.”
Pact is currently investing more than $76 million in new packaging manufacturing equipment across its Australian operations in order to manufacture high quality recycled packaging products with an increased amount of recycled plastic resin.
Pact is also expanding its plastic recycling capabilities with its joint venture partners. The Pact-operated Circular Plastics Australia (PET) recycling plant in Albury, NSW is the biggest of its kind in Australia and has the capacity to recycle up to 1 billion 600ml PET beverage bottles a year – or around 20,000 tonnes of PET plastic.
A second PET recycling plant in Melbourne with similar processing capacity is scheduled to open in late 2023. Both facilities are joint ventures between Pact, Cleanaway Waste Management, Asahi Beverages and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners. The recycled PET resin from these facilities is used to make new beverage bottles and food packaging.
Construction is almost complete on a mixed plastics recycling facility in Melbourne in partnership with Cleanaway which will process about 20,000 tonnes of mixed plastic waste – or the equivalent of half a billion HDPE plastic milk bottles and dairy containers a year.
