Australia, New Zealand And Pacific Islands Plastics Pact Launches To Tackle Plastics Pollution With Innovative Solutions
18 May 2021
Leading businesses, NGOs and governments from across the plastic supply chain and the region unite behind 2025 Targets to eliminate plastic packaging waste.
The ANZPAC Plastics Pact (ANZPAC) has today launched in the Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands region, uniting businesses, NGOs and governments behind a series of ambitious 2025 Targets to eliminate plastic waste.
ANZPAC joins the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's global Plastics Pact Network, a globally aligned response to plastic waste and pollution that unites over 550 member organisations behind the shared vision of a circular economy for plastic, where it never becomes waste or pollution.
Plastic pollution is one of the most pressing environmental issues facing the planet. By 2040, if we fail to act, the volume of plastic on the market will double, the annual volume of plastic entering the ocean will almost triple, and ocean plastic stocks will quadruple.
The ambitious new cross-regional program will work to fundamentally transform our response to plastic by eliminating the plastics we don’t need, innovating to ensure that the plastics we do need are reusable, recyclable, or compostable, and circulating the plastic we use, keeping it in the economy and out of the environment.
ANZPAC Members and Supporters will celebrate the program’s official launch today at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney.
The ANZPAC Plastics Pact represents the complete plastics supply chain, from leading brands, packaging manufacturers and retailers to resource recovery leaders, government institutions, and NGOs (full Member list below).
ANZPAC Members will work towards four clear, actionable targets by 2025:
1. Eliminate unnecessary and problematic plastic packaging through redesign, innovation and alternative (reuse) delivery models.
2. 100% of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.
3. Increase plastic packaging collected and effectively recycled by 25% for each geography within the ANZPAC region.
4. Average of 25% recycled content in plastic packaging across the region.
The immediate next steps for the ANZPAC program to achieve its 2025 goals is to develop a roadmap for action.
The Hon Trevor Evans, Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management commented: "Plastic pollution is one the biggest environmental challenges we face and managing plastic at end-of-life is something we must do better at. The Federal Government is committed to increasing plastic recycling, finding alternatives to unnecessary plastics and reducing the impact of plastic on the environment. Congratulations to the ANZPAC Plastics Pact and its founding members on today’s launch. It’s fantastic to see such a diverse range of organisations across the supply chain coming together to deliver solutions in the Australia and the wider Asia Pacific region.”
Brooke Donnelly, CEO, Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (ANZPAC lead organisation) commented: “On behalf of the ANZPAC team, and our passionate community of founding Members, it is my pleasure to officially launch the ANZPAC Plastics Pact for the Oceania region.
“As well as a growing problem, plastic is also fundamentally an international one. To tackle plastic waste effectively we need to find solutions that aren’t constrained by national borders or old ways of thinking. Through the Plastics Pact model, we will bring together the complete plastic supply chain across the entire Oceania region, and working with our global partners through the Plastics Pact network, develop solutions that deliver real and tangible change to the plastic problem for our region.
“Congratulations to all of our founding Members on their genuine commitment to achieving a circular economy for plastics and their willingness to break down traditional barriers and accelerate truly innovative solutions.”
APCO has worked closely with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and WRAP to develop ANZPAC.
Sonja Wegge, Programme Manager, Plastics Pact Network, Ellen MacArthur Foundation commented: “We welcome the announcement of the ANZPAC Plastics Pact, the first in the Oceania region to join the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global Plastics Pact Network. We are looking forward to supporting governments and industry in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Island Nations in driving real change towards a circular economy for plastic across the region, by eliminating problematic and unnecessary plastic items, innovating to ensure that the plastics needed are reusable, recyclable, or compostable, and circulating the plastic items used to keep them in the economy and out of the environment. Together we can create a world without plastic waste or pollution."
David Rogers, Head of International Development WRAP, commented: “WRAP is delighted by the launch of the Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands Plastics Pact today. As part of the UK’s support of the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Alliance, we have been supporting the Pacific islands to tackle plastic pollution. Being part of ANZPAC is a really powerful way to ensure these important islands have greater influence in ending the tide of plastics that wash up on their shores every day. We wish APCO and all the members and supporters of ANZPAC every success.”
For more information about ANZPAC visit www.anzpac.org.au.
ANZPAC’s Founding Members and Supporters include:
1. ALDI Stores (A Limited Partnership)
2. Amcor Flexibles (Aust) Pty Ltd
3. The Arnott's Group
4. Asahi Beverages Oceania
5. Obert Australian Beverages Council Ltd.
6. Australasian Bioplastics Association (ABA)
7. Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC)
8. Australian Institute of Packaging
9. Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia (BCSD Australia)
10. Clean Up Australia
11. Coca-Cola South Pacific
12. Coles Group Limited
13. Colgate Palmolive
14. Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
15. Disruptive Packaging Pty Ltd
16. Earthwise Group Ltd
17. ecostore Company Ltd
18. EGO Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd
19. Good Environmental Choice Australia Ltd (GECA)
20. Keep New Zealand Beautiful
21. KeepCup Pty Ltd
22. Klöckner Pentaplast Group (Linpac Packaging Australia Pty. Ltd.)
23. Mad World Ltd
24. Marine Plastic Solutions Pty Ltd
25. Mettler Packaging Pty Ltd
26. Mondelez Australia Pty Ltd
27. Nestle Australia Pty Ltd
28. O F Packaging Pty Ltd
29. Ocean Impact Organisation
30. PepsiCo Australia and New Zealand
31. Piber Plastics Australia Pty Ltd
32. Planet Ark Environmental Foundation
33. Planet Protector Packaging
34. Plastic Energy Pty Ltd
35. Pledge for the Planet
36. RecycleCorp Vanuatu PLC
37. Samoa Recycling Waste Management Association (SRWMA)
38. Samoa Tourism Authority
39. Sancell Pty Ltd
40. Scholle IPN Pty Ltd
41. Seaside Scavenge Ltd
42. Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)
43. Solomon Islands Recycling Waste Management Association
44. Strongim Bisnis
45. Tacca Industries Pty Ltd
46. TerraCycle Australia and New Zealand
47. The Better Packaging Co. Limited
48. Polystyrene Solutions
49. TIPA-Corp Ltd.
50. PAKTOEARTH (Twelve8 Technology Pty Ltd)
51. Unilever Australia Ltd
52. Vanden Recycling
53. Vanuatu Beverage Limited
54. Vanuatu Brewing Ltd.
55. Vanuatu Environmental Science Society
56. Vanuatu Recyclers and Waste Management Association
57. Vava’u Environmental Protection Association (VEPA)
58. Veolia Environmental Services Pty Ltd (Australia)
59. Woolworths Group
60. World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
-ENDS-
NOTES TO EDITORS
Media contacts:
Alice Johnson: Alice@horizoncg.com.au / 0413853281
Renee Singh: Renee@horizoncg.com.au / 0420421676
Founding Member quotes:
Daniel Baker, Corporate Responsibility Director, ALDI Australia: “We try to do the right thing, not only when it comes to our employees and customers, but for society and the environment. We conduct business practices of the highest ethical standard with integrity and, when it comes to sustainability, we recognise the importance of acting now. To help achieve our goal to reduce plastics and packaging by 25% by 2025, we have been working with our business partners to remove single-use plastics, reduce the volume of packaging and source recycled materials. We’re pleased to report that we are on track to achieving our goal. As a founding signatory of the Pact, we remain focussed on reducing our own environmental footprint but also hope to encourage the broader industry to make changes to significantly reduce plastics across the whole supply chain.”
Robert lervasi, Group CEO, Asahi Beverages Oceania: “As Australia’s leading beverages company, we’re committed to creating a truly circular economy and a more sustainable world. The goals of the ANZPAC Plastic Pact align with our own and working with others will help give us the insights and relationships to innovate and accelerate the elimination of plastic waste across our entire supply chain.”
Rob Priest, Coca-Cola Vice President, Coca-Cola South Pacific: “We do not want to see any plastic packaging end up where it does not belong – in our oceans, waterways or in landfill. This is a major and urgent challenge, but also a solvable problem if we design and support a circular economy. As part of our World Without Waste commitment, Coca-Cola has taken action across Australia and New Zealand to reduce plastic including switching to 100 per cent recycled plastic in all our bottles under 1 litre. We know that there is more to do. Working together with partners from across the private and public sector as part of the ANZPAC Plastics Pact, including across the Pacific region, we can make even greater progress.”
Greg Davis, Chief Executive Commercial and Express, Coles: “As one of Australia’s largest retailers, Coles understands the importance of working collaboratively to find a more sustainable future for plastic packaging. We’ve just launched our new Together to Zero sustainability strategy and have an ambition to be Australia’s most sustainable supermarket, working with our suppliers, customers and other stakeholders towards zero waste. As a founding member of the ANZPAC Plastics Pact, we now have an opportunity to build and shape meaningful change on plastic packaging and move towards a circular plastic economy as a global community.”
Dr Denise Hardesty, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO: “We are pleased to join ANZPAC to support science-industry collaborations as part of our Ending Plastic Waste Mission currently in development, which is aiming to create systematic change, eliminate litter and divert plastic waste into a resource to build Australia’s circular economy.”
Pablo Kraus, CEO, ecostore Group: “The synergy between ecostore’s business mission for sustainability and the ANZPAC Plastics Pact are perfectly aligned to support and share knowledge in our joint bid to eliminate plastic. While ecostore is working hard on this front, by offering refill stations, aluminium refillable products, sugar cane plastic and more, we acknowledge there is always work to be done. The key challenges for us as a business are designing plastic, recycling, supporting customer behaviour change and focusing on creating a circular economy. We believe by joining the ANZPAC Plastics Pact we can engage in cross-sector korero to develop innovative partnerships, share our learnings and drive Government engagement and change. Consumers and businesses have the power to drive and demand change and the synergy with the Pact and other partners will give us a better platform to achieve this. The ecostore team has been strongly urging other businesses in Aotearoa to join us on this journey because by great minds and resources coming together, we can achieve meaningful and lasting actionable change.”
Abigail Forsyth, Co-Founder and Managing Director, KeepCup: “Reducing problematic and unnecessary waste is why we’re in business. We've joined ANZPAC to advocate for reducing plastic production and transitioning to a circular economy.”
Kumaran Nowuram, Country Manager, Pacific Islands, Nestlé Oceania: “Nestlé is committed to doing our part to ensure that none of our packaging, including plastics, ends up in the natural environment. We know that to turn this into a reality, we need to help achieve a circular economy for plastics – but we can’t achieve this on our own. We’re proud to be a signatory to the ANZPAC Plastics Pact and take this significant step towards achieving circularity by collaborating with others in the value chain to address the challenges and accelerate the change that’s required.”
Danny Celoni, CEO PepsiCo ANZ: PepsiCo is taking action to reduce our plastic use and help prevent our packaging from becoming waste or pollution. As we continue to implement packaging solutions across our portfolio and invest in initiatives to help increase recycling rates, we are proud to be a member of the ANZPAC Plastics Pact and are committed to working holistically with the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), and our fellow signatories to further progress our shared vision of a circular economy for plastic.
Paul Klymenko, CEO, Planet Ark Environmental Foundation: “Finding collaborative solutions for the environmental issues we face as a collective is a crucial component of building a circular economy in Australia and our region. The ANZPAC Plastics Pact will be an important vehicle for driving a circular economy for plastic through collaboration and Planet Ark is thrilled to be joining the coalition as a founding member.”
Doug Parkinson, CEO, Sancell Pty Ltd: “As a manufacturer of plastic packaging products, we recognise the need to develop strategies and policies that support a Circular Economy. We are committed to being a leader in keeping organic and inorganic materials in use at the highest possible value and reducing the need for virgin inputs. We feel our alignment with ANZPAC will provide a more thorough understanding of the issues at hand through collaboration in the Global Plastics Pact network and can help us align with best practice in the achievement of clearly defined targets.”
Kosi Latu, Director General, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP): “The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is pleased to be a member of ANZPAC. We see the ANZPAC Vision aligned to the Pacific Regional Marine Litter Action Plan 2018-2025 vision to address the impact of marine plastic pollution on food security, human health, biodiversity, livelihoods and culture, and a strong commitment to steering coherent regional action to eliminate unnecessary single-use plastics and reduce marine pollution overall. We look forward to working with ANZPAC to accelerate policies and actions to reduce plastic pollution that embrace whole of life cycle approaches to products, promote alternatives and drive more sustainable practices and consumption patterns.”
Brooke Sprott, Head of Sustainable Business and Communications, Unilever Australia and New Zealand: “Plastic is a valuable material that has a vital place in the economy and in our business. It is crucial for the safe and efficient distribution of our products and it has a lower carbon footprint than many alternative materials. But it has no place in our environment. We have an opportunity and a responsibility to make sure that we keep plastic within a circular economy and out of the environment. This requires radical action and no organisation can create a circular economy in isolation. It requires a coalition of willing to drive transformational system change. That’s why Unilever Australia and New Zealand has joined the ANZPAC Plastics Pact and we look forward to working with other members who share our vision of a future where plastic never becomes waste or pollution. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global Plastics Pact network is a proven, effective model being rolled out across the world and we strongly encourage organisations from all sectors to join us.”
Richard Kirkman, CEO and Managing Director, Veolia Australia and New Zealand: "Delivering a circular economy for plastics will bring financial, ecological and societal wealth, and I'm delighted to be part of the ANZPAC Plastics Pact which will drive this important agenda. Plastic itself is not the enemy - it plays a vital role in our society, but it's how we make it, how we use it, and what we do with it after use that needs changing for the better. Plastic is efficient in terms of energy and water use, and can be readily recycled; the more we capture, the more we can keep in use, and reduce our reliance on virgin materials. The ANZPAC Plastics Pact brings together the whole supply chain to discuss and implement ways we can achieve ecological transformation for plastics, by standardising packaging, cleaning-up, and making it simpler for people to recycle. If you want to future proof our planet from plastic waste and pollution, and instead create one where plastic brings value to humans and the environment, I encourage you to join and be part of this important dialogue."
Adrian Cullen, Head of Sustainability, Woolworths: “We’re working towards a better tomorrow for our customers, communities and the planet, and reducing plastic waste is one of the important ways we can make a meaningful difference. In recent years we’ve removed thousands of tonnes of plastic from our packaging and stores, but we know there’s more to do, and we can’t do it alone. The Plastics Pact is a first of its kind opportunity for the entire industry and every level of the supply chain to rally around this challenge and collaborate on solutions that reduce plastic waste for the benefit of the environment and generations to come”.
Kate Noble, No Plastic in Nature Policy Manager, WWF-Australia: “Plastic pollution is a global crisis that needs urgent local and regional solutions. To do this, WWF-Australia sees ANZPAC as critical in bringing together a diverse range of stakeholders towards a common goal – to address plastic pollution and move towards a circular economy for plastics. We’re looking forward to working with all involved to drive real and transformational change on the issue of ocean plastic pollution in the region.”
ABOUT THE ANZPAC PLASTICS PACT
The ANZPAC Plastics Pact (ANZPAC) is a collaborative solution that brings together key players behind a shared vision of a circular economy for plastic, where plastic never becomes waste or pollution. Together through shared knowledge, investment and industry led innovation ANZPAC will eliminate the plastics we don’t need, innovate to ensure that the plastics we do need are reusable, recyclable, or compostable, and circulate the plastic we use, keeping it in the economy and out of the environment. ANZPAC members represent the complete plastics value chain, from leading brands, packaging manufacturers and retailers to resource recovery leaders, government institutions, and NGOs. The Pact will work to deliver a set of concrete, ambitious and time-bound targets. ANZPAC joins the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's global Plastics Pact network, The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) is the organisation leading the ANZPAC program for the region.
Further information: www.anzpac.org.au
ABOUT AUSTRALIAN PACKAGING COVENANT ORGANISATION
The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) is a not-for-profit organisation leading the development of a circular economy for packaging in Australia. APCO works with governments, businesses and other organisations from across Australia’s large and complex packaging value chain to develop the insights, resources and programs that are needed to build a sustainable national packaging ecosystem. In 2018, APCO was endorsed by government to lead the delivery of Australia’s 2025 National Packaging Targets and ensure all packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. To achieve this goal, APCO is working closely with government and industry to deliver a range of sustainable design, recycling, waste to landfill reduction and circular economy projects.
Further information: www.apco.org.au
ABOUT THE ELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a UK-based charity, develops and promotes the idea of a circular economy in order to tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time, such as plastic pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss. We work with, and inspire, business, academia, policymakers, and institutions to mobilise systems solutions at scale, globally. In a circular economy, business models, products, and materials are designed to increase use and reuse, creating an economy in which nothing becomes waste and everything has value. Increasingly built on renewable materials, and underpinned by a shift to renewable energy, a circular economy is distributed, diverse, and inclusive.
Further information: ellenmacarthurfoundation.org | @circulareconomy
ABOUT THE NEW PLASTICS ECONOMY
Since 2016, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative has rallied businesses, governments, and other organisations behind the vision of a circular economy for plastic, in which it never becomes waste or pollution.
Focused on ambitious targets for 2025, the Global Commitment addresses plastic waste and pollution at its source, beginning with plastic packaging, while the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Plastics Pact Network of local and regional (cross-border) initiatives, endorses and implements circular economy solutions that work towards the vision.
The vision is defined by six key points:
- Elimination of problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging through redesign, innovation, and new delivery models is a priority
- Reuse models are applied where relevant, reducing the need for single-use packaging
- All plastic packaging is 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable
- All plastic packaging is reused, recycled, or composted in practice
- The use of plastic is fully decoupled from the consumption of finite resources
- All plastic packaging is free of hazardous chemicals, and the health, safety, and rights of all people involved are respected.
Further information: emf.org/plastics | @circulareconomy