Page 12 - Packaging News Sep-Oct 2020

12 SUSTAINABILITY | www.packagingnews.com.au | September-October 2020
Recycling labels a “dog’s breakfast” says ACOR
An independent audit of recycling information on consumer products in Australia reveals what the Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR) said is a situation that is “confusing for consumers and does not support better recycling”.
THE audit – conducted by sustainability con- sultancy Equilibrium across supermarkets, takeaway outlets, and convenience stores in two capital cities – found 88 per cent of the packaging components sampled were recy- clable through either kerbside recycling or a supermarket-based return programme, but
that only 40 per cent of these products had a recycling claim present on pack.
ACOR CEO Pete Shmigel said: “The audit shows a dog’s breakfast of consumer infor- mation about what products and packaging components are or aren’t recyclable. It’s lit- tle wonder that the community regularly says that, while it strongly supports recy- cling, there’s confusion because of inconsis- tent, unclear and even misleading logos and claims on the products they buy.”
“The dog’s breakfast undoubtedly leads to some material going to the wrong place such
as recyclables to garbage bins and non-recy- clables to recycling bins. That means recy- cling rates that aren’t as high as they could be, contamination that is too high, and it’s harder to achieve national targets such as 70 per cent plastics recycling (from our cur- rent 12 per cent).”
Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) CEO Brooke Donnelly said her organisation welcomes robust dis- cussion and feedback on the progress of labelling in Australia.
“The report has identified something that APCO and our partners at Planet Ark and PREP Design have long recognised: that Australia needs a clear, concise and evi- denced-based label placed on every product and packaging type sold into the Australian market,” Donnelly said.
“It’s fantastic to see key sectors within the packaging supply chain recognising the importance of the labelling issue and we wel-
come their engagement and partici- pation in the ARL [Australasian Recycling Label] Program mov- ing forward. The ARL Program is the only evidence-based labelling system on the market and we look forward to seeing the ARL on every packaging format as the programme
grows over the coming years.” Donnelly said the ARL Program is continuing to grow rapidly and is tracking well compared to similar programmes being implemented
around the world.
The dog’s breakfast undoubtedly leads to some material going to the wrong place such as recyclables to garbage bins.”
– ACOR CEO Pete Shmigel
“After less than two years in market, we are excited to see the leadership and hard work of Australian industry being recog- nised, with the ARL featuring on approxi- mately a quarter of all products on shelves. This is an incredible achievement within a short time frame,” she said.
Planet Ark CEO Paul Klymenko said after many years working to develop the Australasian Recycling Label, Planet Ark is impressed with the level of uptake after launching the program with APCO and PREP Design just two years ago.
“The uptake has been significantly faster than comparable international labels, and the Australasian Recycling Label has been recognised by international bodies like the United Nations Environment Program as best practice when it comes to informing consumers how to best dispose of their packaging,” Klymenko said. ■
An audit found recycling labels were not consistently deployed, which could lead to confusion among consumers.