Last year the Australian Packaging Covenant commissioned Envisage Works and Sustainable Resource Use (SRU) to undertake the 2015–16 National Recycling and Recovery Survey (NRRS) for plastics packaging.
The latest survey results show an improved plastics packaging recycling rate of 31.1%, up from the 29.3% in the previous year. Approximately 263,000 tonnes of plastics packaging was recycled across Australia during the survey period, with a total consumption figure of 844,300 tonnes.
Plastic packaging recovery saw a relatively minor decrease of 5,500 tonnes on the 268,500 tonnes of plastics packaging recycled in 2014–15. This represents a decrease of 2% in overall recovery from 2014–15. In comparison, total consumption was down by 11% in the same reporting period. The decrease is driven mostly by a drop in reported locally reprocessed plastic packaging, in tandem with steady exports of plastic packaging recyclate.
Another factor that may have influenced the drop in recovery are low oil and gas prices that have resulted in cheaper virgin resins, the main competitor to recycled plastics. A general oversupply of virgin polymer manufacturing capacity internationally has also compounded competitive pressure.
A total of 48,100 tonnes of flexible plastics were recycled in 2015–16 compared to 49,700 tonnes in 2014–15. This represents a 3% decrease in overall recovery year on year, and is a similar result to 2013–14.
Although recycling rates have enjoyed a steady increase, the results highlight a real need for Australia to understand and support plastics closed loop economies, particularly in relation to soft plastics. This is an area that the APC is committed to addressing in our new five-year strategic plan, and has been further explored recent Packaging Sustainability Think Tank held in Sydney in February.
The National Recycling and Recovery Survey is a significant component of the Australian National Plastics Recycling Survey (NPRS), the well‐regarded and long‐running annual reporting of plastics consumption and recycling in Australia across both packaging and non‐packaging applications. The study is one of the most comprehensive annual surveys of any recycled material type in Australia, and plays an important role in the Australian plastics industry’s reporting in a national and global context.
Since 2014, the survey has used a new calculation methodology, taking account of imported finished and semi-finished plastic goods. This new method significantly improves the survey results by giving a more accurate representation of consumption figures.
Read the full survey data and analysis in more detail in the final report.