Australia’s 2025 National Packaging Targets
Did you know that Australia has targets to reduce the environmental impact of plastic packaging by 2025?
The National Packaging Targets are a series of voluntary targets that were developed by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) in collaboration with government, industry, and community stakeholders. These targets are presented as a key part of Australia’s plan to build a sustainable future and create a circular economy.
These targets are designed to drive innovation and collaboration across the packaging supply chain, from design and production to consumption and recycling.
The National Packaging Targets consist of four main goals:
- 100% of Australian packaging being reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025.
- 70% of plastic packaging will be recycled or composted by 2025.
- 50% average recycled content across all packaging by 2025.
- The phase-out of problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic packaging.
Achieving these targets is not easy. It requires businesses, governments, consumers, and waste management organisations to work together to find ways to ensure packaging is easy to recycle, to ensure the right collection systems are in place, and to incentivise the use of recycled content.
Despite wide support from industry including from the major supermarkets, the delivery of Australia’s 2025 National Packaging Targets remains in some doubt. While millions of dollars have been invested in recycling, Australia is only managing to recover 18% of plastic – well short of the 70% target.
To learn more about Australia’s National Packaging Targets and the progress made towards achieving them, please visit here.
The ANZPAC Plastics Pact
The 2025 national packaging targets, whilst referencing plastics, relate to packaging as a whole. In response to this a specific program was created for plastics called the ANZPAC Plastics Pact. Whilst similar to the 2025 national packaging targets, these goals have been refined specifically for plastics.
The ANZPAC Plastics Pact (ANZPAC) is a voluntary commitment by governments, businesses, and other stakeholders to tackle the issue of plastic waste in the Australia-New Zealand-Pacific region. The ANZPAC Plastics Pact is part of a global network of Plastics Pacts, which aim to create a circular economy for plastic.
The ANZPAC Plastics Pact has set voluntary targets to address plastic waste in the region:
- Eliminate unnecessary and problematic plastic packaging through redesign, innovation and alternative (reuse) delivery models.
- 100% of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
- Increase plastic packaging collected and effectively recycled by at least 25% for each geography within the ANZPAC region.
- Average of 25% recycled content in plastic packaging across the region.
By committing to this pact, businesses and governments agree to work together to eliminate problem plastics and increase plastic recovery rates. They must report annually on their progress against these targets.
At this point in time there is no progress report publicly available.
To learn more about the ANZPAC Plastics Pact and its targets, please visit here.