Page 20 - Packaging News magazine March_April 2023

SUSTAINABILITY
Transforming soft plastics recycling
The recent events that have seriously disrupted soft plastic recycling in Australia highlight the country’s vulnerable recycling ecosystem. Prof Edward Kosior points a way forward.
DESPITE RECYCLING RATES flatlining since 2017, meshed with the REDcycle debacle and warehouse stockpiles
of plastic, Australia has every opportu- nity to transform the way it handles its post-consumer plastic packaging.
The government’s ambitious tar- gets, including a target of 70 per cent of plastic packaging being recy- cled or composted by 2025, mirrors Australian consumers’ positive atti- tude towards recycling. According to the 2022 Australasian Recycling Label Consumer Insights Report, 87 per cent of Australians believe that recycling at home is the right thing to do.
Turning this into a reality, however, is going to require the entire supply chain to come together, and there are ample reasons to do so.
WORLD VIEW
According to Plastics Europe’s latest report, in 2021, 90 per cent of the world’s plastics production was fossil-based. Post-consumer recycled plastics and bio- based/bio-attributed plastics respectively accounted for 8.3 per cent and 1.5 per cent of the world’s plastics production.
These figures are a stark reminder that the world has a very long way to go if it is to transition to net zero by 2050.
Yet transition it must. For humanity to attain a circular and climate-neutral plastics economy, we need accelerated systemic change and increased collab- oration between all stakeholders and policy makers.
Let’s put this into context – an assess- ment presented at COP27 clearly demonstrates that if we are to avoid exceeding 1.5 degrees in temperature, our remaining carbon budget is 380 bil- lion tonnes – equivalent to less than a decade of emissions at our present rate.
We have no option but to drastically reduce our emissions. And one of the fundamental ways of doing this is by
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