Page 12 - Packaging News magazine Jul-Aug 2021

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SUSTAINABILITY | www.packagingnews.com.au | July-August 2021
ANZPAC unites for Plastics Pact
In May, the ANZPAC Plastics Pact officially launched, uniting businesses, NGOs, and governments across the plastics supply chain behind a series of ambitious 2025 targets to eliminate plastic waste. Jan Arreza reports.
IN a deal three years in the making, ANZPAC (Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands) has joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global Plastics Pact Network, which is a globally aligned response to plastic waste and pollution. It unites
over 550 member organisations behind the shared vision of a circular economy for plastic, where it never becomes a waste or pollution.
The ANZPAC Plastics Pact, which will be administered by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), represents the complete plastics supply chain – from leading brands, packaging man- ufacturers and retailers, to resource recovery leaders, government institu- tions and NGOs.
“This is a platform for creating a consolidated and cohesive approach for the entire plastics supply chain to work together on the important issue of taking plastic and making it circu- lar,” explains Brooke Donnelly, CEO of APCO.
“Here in Australia, just 18 per cent of the plastic is successfully recov- ered for future use. We have a respon- sibility to be better at that.
“It is really important in this con- versation to recognise that plastic as a resource isn’t evil, but the way that we manage plastic at the end of its life is not very effective or efficient at the moment. We cannot be doing business like this moving forward.”
The new cross-regional program will work to fundamentally trans- form the country’s response to plastic by eliminating unneeded plastics; innovating to ensure plastics we do need are reusable, recyclable, or com- postable; and circulating the plastic we use, keeping it in the economy and out of the environment.
“This is a platform for creating a consolidated and cohesive approach for the entire plastics supply chain...”
The ANZPAC Plastics Pact mem- bers will work towards four clear actionable targets by 2025, which consists of: eliminating unnecessary and problematic plastic packaging through redesign, innovation and alternative (reuse) delivery models; 100 per cent of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or composta- ble packaging by 2025; increasing plastic packaging collected and effec- tively recycled by 25 per cent for each geography within the ANZPAC region; and having an average of 25 per cent recycled content in plastic packaging across the region.
The immediate next steps for the Pact to achieve the 2025 goals is to develop a roadmap for action.
ABOVE: Founding members and industry representatives gathered for the launch of the ANZPAC Plastics Pact at the Australian maritime Museum in Sydney. The ambitious new cross-regional program will work to end plastic waste in the region.
“The roadmap is really the first step of the ANZPAC network and its important that we all work together to get that clearly defined within the next 12 months so we can start to accelerate achieving our ambitious targets,” Donnelly adds.
“We’ve already started to talk to benefactors and brands to secure their commitments for the use of recycled materials in their packaging format, which is fundamental in achieving a circular outcome.
“There’s a lot of work to be done and the roadmap, along with the proj- ect development phase, is very much about working through what that path towards the circular economy will look like.”
According to Trevor Evans, Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management, there are few areas as complex and challenging as plastic waste here in Australia.
Evans says, “Everyone has a role to play – from governments at all levels, households, small business and large, innovators, entrepre- neurs, and community and environ- mental groups. Engagement, collab- oration and cooperation are absolutely the key.” ■