The suspension of the REDcycle soft plastics collection program has rendered ‘misleading’ the ‘return to store’ labelling on hundreds of branded SKUs and thousands upon thousands of products. PKN asked APCO, and the supermarkets, how this will be addressed.
‘Return to store’ is the instruction communicated via the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) for soft plastics packaging. It was verifiable when the REDcycle collection scheme was in place, and will be once again when a collection scheme is fully reinstated, as per the new Roadmap to Restart. But in the meantime, if there is no return to store option, this is a misleading claim, and one that ACCC will not be able to ignore in the longer term.
APCO, the owner of the ARL that is now widely used by brand owners and supermarkets on their own brand labels, said it will be working with stakeholders to resolve this issue.
“APCO recognises the concerns of brand owners around on pack labels and looks forward to working with the supermarkets, Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to agree on key actions and timing in this area now that the roadmap has been finalised,” Chris Foley, APCO CEO said.
A Coles spokesperson said: “To avoid significant volumes of additional unnecessary waste going directly to landfill, as well as impose undue costs, Coles Own Brand suppliers are continuing to use packaging designed and printed prior to the collapse of the REDcycle program. We have informed our customers through various channels that the REDcycle program is no longer operating. We are working with industry and governments to help find a solution to soft plastics recycling in Australia.”
Woolworths concurred that avoiding unnecessary waste going to landfill was its priority, with a spokesperson saying, “A lot of product for packaging was produced well before REDcycle's collapse so we need to work through all of that packaging which has quite a long lead time in terms of production and of course no one wants to see product go to waste.”
[Editor’s note: Now, the other 'elephant in the room' question is what about all the packaging with REDcycle logos printed on it, not all packaging also carries the ARL, some just has a REDcycle logo, some has it in combination with the ARL. It seems counterintuitive to do away with a brand that has high consumer awareness and is not aligned with any retailer. But it’s understandable that given the media storm around the REDcycle suspension, to move forward a new emblem may have to be found, not just for the label, also for the collection bins. It may be that once a kerbside collection scheme is fully established in tandem with in-store collection, that a single clear graphic communication device, under the banner of the ARL, would make sense. PKN will follow this development with interest.]
APCO went on to outline the work underway to improve the sustainability and circularity of soft plastic packaging across the packaging supply chain. Initiatives include:
- Designing for recyclability: the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines remain the standard for businesses to refer to when designing packaging that is as sustainable as possible and will play a role in the development of a circular economy.
- Convening the packaging system: APCO is establishing a Flexible Plastics Materials Stewardship Committee (FP-MSC) with representatives from across the packaging, waste and recycling systems, and is intended to play an advisory and coordinating role in the delivery of legitimate and sustainable pathways to effective soft plastics recycling and circularity.
- Supporting soft plastics stewardship: APCO is working with the AFGC to create an ongoing system to generate greater investment in the recycling supply chain from eco-modulated levies placed on brand owners.
- Traceability, assurance and system transparency: APCO supports the taskforce’s identification of the need for “an audit program to ensure robust oversight and public transparency of the recovery chain-of-custody” We look forward to working with the packaging system to develop solutions to these issues through the Flexible Plastics Materials Stewardship Committee.
