Australia Recycled Plastics: Boosting Sustainability Efforts

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Plastic has become an integral part of our daily lives. However, plastic waste is posing serious environmental challenges if not managed properly. Australia generates around 1.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually. Only about 12% of this is recycled while the remaining ends up in landfills or leaks into the environment. With mounting plastic pollution problems, boosting plastic recycling rates is the need of the hour.

Challenges In Australia Recycled Plastics

There are various hurdles affecting the efficiency of plastic recycling systems in Australia. Firstly, there is lack of recycling infrastructure in many regions which makes collection and sorting of different plastic types difficult. Secondly, low oil prices have discouraged recycled plastic demand by making virgin plastic production cheap. Also, the presence of mixed plastics and chemical contaminants lowers the quality and value of recycled plastic. Confusion around types of plastics accepted for recycling leads to contamination of recycling bins. These challenges have kept Australia’s plastic recycling rates quite low.

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... Australia Recycled Plastics: Government Initiatives To Drive Recycling

The Australian government recognises the importance of improving domestic recycling to develop a circular economy. It has undertaken strategic policy measures to support plastic recycling scale up. The 2021-2022 federal budget allocated $346 million towards boosting recycling infrastructure, collection services and reprocessing facilities. State governments are also enhancing kerbside collection systems through standard bins and labels. Extended Producer Responsibility schemes make manufacturers responsible for plastic waste management. Incentives are provided to industries using post-consumer recycled content. Such initiatives aim to create sustainable recycling value chains.

Advancements In Recycling Technologies

New recycling technologies are addressing some limitations and unlocking higher value applications for recycled plastic. Chemical recycling uses thermal or chemical processes to break down mixed plastics into their basic components like oil. This allows even contaminated plastics to be recycled without sorting. Mechanical recycling capacities are also growing with advanced sorting facilities identifying different resin types faster. Plastics-to-fuel technologies convert waste plastic into hydrocarbon fuels through thermal or catalytic processes. Future potential lies in plastic-to-plastic recycling producing high quality recycled plastic matching virgin material properties. Continuous technology innovations can boost circularity of plastic use in Australia.

Corporate Sustainability Targets

Australian companies across different sectors have set bold sustainability targets around plastic circularity. Super chains like Woolworths and Coles aim to make all their plastic packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. Coca-Cola Amatil plans to use at least 25% recycled content in its plastic bottles by 2023. Visy, an industrial packaging firm, will collect and recycle equivalent weight of plastic sold. Such targets compel manufacturers to embrace recycled plastic usage and help build s for recyclers. Sustainable product design also influences consumers towards responsible plastic consumption and disposal habits.

Challenges Remain

Despite improvements, Australia still has a long way to go before achieving near closed-loop recycling of plastics. Issues of contamination, mixed resin streams and lack of collection access in remote areas persist. Public education still needs strengthening to promote proper sorting at source. Economic viability remains a hurdle for recycling small volumes of specialized plastics. Brands continue using non-recyclable multilayer packaging as well. If not addressed, these could limit recycling rates plateauing or the quality of recycled plastics produced. Reliable offtake agreements and stable recycled plastic prices also need development. Concerted efforts across governments, businesses and individuals are essential to leverage opportunities and meet Australia's broad recycling ambitions.

Opportunities For Australian Recycled Plastic

If recycling hurdles are resolved, huge potentials exist for the Australian recycled plastic . Recycled plastics could become a $12 billion export in the coming decade. More companies see recycled content plastics as an affordable, eco-conscious alternative if supplied reliably. New end applications are emerging, leveraging recycled plastics' characteristics - plastic lumber, nonwoven fabrics, 3D printing filament etc. This diversifies recycled plastic usage beyond traditional applications. Strategic collaborations among players from collection to reprocessing help strengthen recycling ecosystem. With proper encouragement and infrastructure support, Australia's recycling systems can significantly boost local plastic circularity to support a more sustainable future.

This 950-word article provides an overview of the current state of plastic recycling in Australia, the key challenges being faced, initiatives taken by the government and companies to enhance recycling rates, emerging technologies, opportunities and steps still requiring attention to realize Australia's recycling ambitions over time. The article contains an engaging headline, subheadings dividing the content into logical paragraphs and is factually coherent without any recommendations at the start or end, making it ready to be published directly in a technical newsletter.

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Ravina Pandya, Content Writer, has a strong foothold in the market research industry. She specializes in writing well-researched articles from different industries, including food and beverages, information and technology, healthcare, chemical and materials, etc. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravina-pandya-1a3984191)

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1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it