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Material Stewardship Committees

Six Material Stewardship Committees (MSC) validate the portfolio of actions that need to be taken by government, the packaging sector, recyclers, and re-processors, and by APCO itself to remove barriers and create opportunities for improved circularity for key materials. 

 

These committees will: 

  • Develop and implement a 3–5 year Material Roadmap. 
  • Agree on an annual action plan to deliver or support priority projects identified in the Materials Roadmap . 
  • Provide review and advice on technical issues relating to the operation of the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL). 

 

A summary of actions from their draft action plans are listed below. 

 

Flexible Plastics – Material Stewardship Committee  

Amongst other priorities, this committee will: 

  • Focus on the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines to ensure that packaging is designed to enable safe, high-quality recovery and remanufacture. 
  • Work with industry and government to create thriving markets for collected products for a variety of end uses. 
  • Educate the market about the value of flexible plastics in ensuring good product quality and safety outcomes. 
  • Explore strategies to increase recovery through B2B stewardship solutions. 
  • Support industry to re-establish widespread collection services for soft plastics. 

 

Find out more about the role of the Flexible Plastics Material Stewardship Committee here.

 

Rigid Plastics – Material Stewardship Committee  

The rigid plastics committee works to reduce the material losses through the system and 

increase end-market demand for non-virgin material. 

Some polymers, like rPET are being well recovered, although not yet to their full technical potential. Others need more support to be reclaimed in a circular system. This group will: 

  • Focus on ensuring polymers like PP and PE are more readily recovered into food-grade plastics packaging. 
  • Focus on the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines to ensure that packaging is designed to enable safe, high-quality recovery and remanufacture. 
  • Work with industry and government to create thriving markets for collected products for a variety of end uses . 

 

Find out more about the role of the Rigid Plastics Material Stewardship Committee here.

 

Fibre – Material Stewardship Committee  

Paper and cardboard enjoy good design standards and mature collection systems, but in 2021 600,000 tonnes (24%) of paper and cardboard was not recovered into new products. To put that in perspective, there’s more cardboard going to landfill than all the plastic placed on the market. 

The group will: 

  • Maximise recovery of the remaining paper and cardboard tonnages with a likely focus on B2B recovery. 
  • Explore avoidance strategies for paperboard and timber by supporting reusable and refillable B2B systems for tertiary packaging. 
  • Focus on the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines to ensure that compound packaging is designed to enable safe, high-quality recovery and remanufacture.  

 

Find out more about the role of the Fibre Material Stewardship Committee here.

 

Glass – Material Stewardship Committee  

Glass is also reasonably mature in its collection and reprocessing. This group will: 

  • Focus on increasing recycled content from 35% to 70%. 
  • Focus on enhanced sortation and grow end markets. 
  • Consider how to reduce glass contamination of other resource streams. 

 

Find out more about the role of the Glass Material Stewardship Committee here.

 

Metals – Material Stewardship Committee  

Metal has an inherently high value and so is reasonably well recovered, however, most is processed offshore and re-procured. This group will: 

  • Focus on traceability and standards to ensure good data to inform mass balance analyses and recycled content claims through an international procurement supply chain.  
  • Focus on the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines to ensure that packaging is designed to enable safe, high-quality recovery and remanufacture.  

 

Find out more about the role of the Metals Material Stewardship Committee here.

 

Labels Committee   

The Labels Materials Stewardship Committee (L – MSC) enables the establishment of a thriving domestic circular economy for labels and their labelled packaging. 

 

This technical working group will: 

  • Focus on the complexities that labels bring to the recyclability of other materials. 
  • Improve the advice that APCO and the ARL give to packaging designers considering different label types. 
  • Seek new opportunities to create labels from recycled materials.
  • Explore adhesives that enable rather than inhibit recovery. 

 

Find out more about the role of the Labels Material Stewardship Committee here.