Between 2022 and 2023, more than 540,000 tonnes of soft plastic packaging was used by manufacturers in packaging their products.
Only 6 percent of this soft plastic was recovered, however, according to data published by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO).
The soft plastic packaging comprises both business-to-consumer and business-to-business packaging (such as that used for wrapping goods on pallets).
Estimates suggest that 70 percent of soft plastic packaging is business-to-consumer.
Now, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued a draft determination proposing to grant authorisation to establish a voluntary, industry-led scheme to collect and recycle soft plastic packaging from consumers.
The scheme will be run by Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia (SPSA). It aims to increase the collection and recycling of soft plastic packaging from consumers, such as shopping bags and food wrappers.
Initial members of the scheme are Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, Nestlé, Mars and McCormick Foods.
The scheme is proposed to be funded through a levy on participants based on the amount of business-to-consumer soft plastic packaging they place on the market, which represents the first occasion on which soft plastic packaging is supplied.
For example, when a manufacturer sells its product to a supermarket, the manufacturer will have placed the soft plastic on the market, or where a supermarket sells its ‘own brand’ products in its stores.
Scheme participants may decide to pass on the cost of the levy through the supply chain, including to consumers.
The ACCC is proposing an authorisation period of eight years for the scheme, which will include a reporting condition to ensure transparency of the scheme’s performance.
An additional condition is proposed to ensure that there are no exclusive contracts with processors.
The ACCC has also granted interim authorisation to SPSA to allow it to engage in part of the conduct now. This includes the sharing of operational information and data to allow for existing arrangements of the Soft Plastics Taskforce, which is chaired by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), to be transferred to SPSA.
The consumer watchdog says it considers that the public environmental benefits outweigh any potential detriment to competition resulting from the collaboration through SPSA’s scheme.
“We believe the proposed scheme will result in an environmental benefit as it aims to take over and expand the current in-store collection and kerbside pilots for recycling soft plastic packaging – meaning some soft plastics are likely to be diverted from landfill,” ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh says.
This isn’t the first time that the ACCC has weighed in on the issue of soft plastics recycling.
Earlier this year, it granted conditional authorisation to the Coles Group, Woolworths Group and Aldi Stores, to continue their collaboration to recycle stockpiled soft plastics and implement the pilot in-store collection program until 31 July 2026.
It follows an interim authorisation that the ACCC issued in November 2022, following the collapse of REDcycle, which operated a nationwide soft plastics collection and recycling program.
Read more: Recycled plastic could be used for Melbourne tram stop platforms
