The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) has released its 2022-23 Australian Packaging Consumption and Recovery Data Report, the second report released this year.
For the 2022-23 period, the latest results against the National Packaging Targets shows a small uptick in the proportion of recyclable packaging and in the average recycled content, while there was a dip in the plastic recycling rate. The phasing out of unnecessary, single-use plastic is an area that reflects the most progress.
As APCO CEO Chris Foley points out, “Our ability to drive meaningful change in the packaging industry depends on access to timely, accurate data. By releasing two reports in one year, we’re ensuring our members and stakeholders have the most current information to make informed decisions. This latest report highlights where progress is being made and where more focus is needed.”
Top line findings:
Target 1: 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging.
Result: The proportion of recyclable packaging increased from 84% to 86%.
Target 2: 70% of plastic packaging being recycled or composted.
Result: The plastic recycling rate decreased from 20% to 19%.
Target 3: 50% of average post-consumer recycled content included in packaging.
Result: The average recycled content increased from 40% to 44%.
Target 4: The phase-out of problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic packaging.
Result: This has been reduced by 40% from the 2017-18 baseline.
In August, APCO launched its 2030 Strategic Plan, a new way forward to meet the need for industry to take greater responsibility for packaging placed on the market.
[To hear more about this strategic plan directly from Chris Foley, listen to Episode 97 of the PKN Podcast.]
Foley said, “The strategy was developed with input from hundreds of key stakeholders, so we know that businesses want these outcomes and are ready to act to strengthen their packaging’s social licence.”
Foley said this report is a critical tool for industry and brand owners to understand where Australia sits on its journey to achieving a circular economy for packaging, what the challenges are and what action is needed to get there.
Report highlights:
- In 2022-23, half of all glass placed on the market was from post-consumer recycled content, making it the first material group to meet the 2025 material-specific target for post-consumer recycled content.
- The average Australian consumer uses 146kg of packaging per year, with 111kg consumed in the home and 35kg consumed away from home. Business to business consumption (116kg/person) and other/unknown consumption (2kg/person) takes total consumption 264kg per capita.
- Domestic reprocessing capacity has nearly doubled since 2018-19, from 1.85MT to 3.45MT.
- Paper and Paperboard represents over 50% of all packaging placed on market and has a high recovery rate of 73%. Even so, more remains to be done, as there are still 1.3 million tonnes of this valuable material going to landfill.
- Container Deposit Scheme recovery via depots and reverse vending machines have almost doubled between 2018-19 and 2022-23 across the country.
- Some problematic and single-use plastics have almost disappeared from Australian packaging, with 31,000 tonnes of single-use HDPE shopping bags being almost entirely eliminated, PVC halving from 20,000 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes, and 1,500 tonnes of oxo-degradable plastics being reduced to almost zero.
Material highlights:
Paper and paperboard: Despite 94% of paper and paperboard packaging placed on market (POM) receiving a “good recycling potential” rating, only 65% of paper and paperboard was collected throughout 2022-23. This is a slight drop on the 2021-22 recovery rate of 68%.
Rigid plastics: The recovery rate of rigid plastic has exceeded the growth of rigid plastic POM since 2018-19. Post-consumer recycled content has also grown from 10% to 14% (as a proportion of POM), with an additional 32,000 tonnes of post-consumer recycled content used vs 2021-22 levels.
Flexible plastics: Low domestic reprocessing capacity for flexible plastic content limit the uptake of domestic recycled content in new flexible plastic packaging placed on market. Over the next five years, flexible plastic reprocessing capacity is projected to increase by 287,000 tonnes, bringing reprocessing capacity to 54% of POM in 2027-28, compared to just 10% in 2022-23.
Glass: Glass is the first material to reach the 2025 material-specific recycled content target for 2025, with post-consumer recycled content rates in glass improving from 41% in 2021-22 to 50% in 2022-23.
Metal: Metal recovery has improved slightly between 2021-22 (51%) and 2022-23 (52%), but still remains lower than the 56% recovery rate in 2018-19.
Wood: Wood is typically used in B2B contexts for highly durable applications, making it well suited to reuse systems. In 2021-22, 4.5 million tonnes of wood were avoided through the use of qualified reusable packaging systems.
