Page 29 - Packaging New magazine Jan-Feb 2023

Your future recycling solution.
Advanced recycling, coming soon for the production of polypropylene.
We’re Australia’s only manufacturer of polypropylene, a material used to produce diverse plastic products such as flexible packaging films and rigid packaging consumer products.
Viva Energy Polymers, your local solution.
vivaenergy.com.au
packaging. EPR is a policy approach (generally regulated) that extends a producer’s responsibility to the post- consumer stage of a product’s life cycle.
Rose Read from the Centre of Excellence for Product Stewardship noted that strong industry participation is one of the keys to a successful product stewardship scheme. This is possi- ble under a voluntary scheme where the industry comprises a small num- ber of companies (eg Paintback and MobileMuster). In most cases, how- ever, EPR is required to address free riders. Recent statements from the Federal Environment Minister suggest a greater willingness by the Australian Government to regulate priority sec- tors, such as solar panels and tyres.
Mitchell Killeen from LyondellBasell International reported that the Korean Government is well ahead of Australia in this area, having introduced EPR laws for industrial and agricultural films in January 2022. Manufacturers and importers will be required to collect and recycle a certain portion or pay a “recycling charge” which will be more than the cost of recycling.
Closer to home the New Zealand Government has identified plastic packaging as one of the priority prod- ucts for which a mandatory EPR scheme will be introduced. CEO of Plastics New Zealand Rachel Barker reported that her organisation is leading a two-year co- design process to develop the scheme.
The European CEFLEX program has some important lessons for any prod- uct stewardship scheme. Managing director of CEFLEX Graham Houlder outlined its ‘demand-driven’ approach to flexible (soft) plastics. He suggested that before thinking about collection and recycling systems it is important to first understand what packaging is entering the market and its recyclabil- ity, and then look at the end markets and what they require in both quantity and quality. Only then can appropri- ate collection, sorting and reprocessing systems be designed.
This was consistent with a strong message from Andrew Smith, executive general manager at Pact Recycling, who highlighted four elements that must be present for a plastics recycling system to work. These are:
• Raw material availability – access to a consistent supply of material at the right quality
• Recycling infrastructure and capa- bility to consistently convert plastics into quality resins
Governments need to step up with bold and urgent action to address free riders and ensure a level playing field.
ELLEN MACARTHUR, FOUNDER, ELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION
PLASTICS IN PACKAGING
Action points
Several strong themes emerged over the three days of the conference, with strong support for action in four key areas:
• Designforboth
reduction and recycling
• Movingfromvoluntary product stewardship to
extended producer
responsibility (EPR)
• Policyandlegislationto
align economic
incentives
• Theneedforinnovation
and investment in mechanical and advanced recycling
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JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2023 ❙ 29