ANZPAC Plastics Pact Update
25 June 2021
Last month, the ANZPAC Plastics Pact officially launched as the 11th Plastics Pact in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's global Plastics Pact Network with over 60 founding Members. Post-launch, the program has moved straight into delivery mode. Applications are now open for ANZPAC Members to express their interest in joining the ANZPAC Collective Action Group, and the program has released its first resource, the Recovered Polymer Specifications. ANZPAC has welcomed over 20 new Members since launch with membership now exceeding 80 organisations from across the region and supply chain. Leading businesses continuing to come on board, demonstrate their willingness to accelerate innovative solutions, and their commitment to drive meaningful change for plastics across the region.
The ANZPAC Launch Event
On 18 May, we proudly saw ANZPAC Members, Supporters and stakeholders celebrate the official launch of the ANZPAC Plastics Pact through a hybrid live and online event. At the time of launch, 60 founding Members had already joined ANZPAC, representing the complete plastics value chain from leading brands, packaging manufacturers and retailers to resource recovery leaders, government institutions, and NGOs. See the founding Members here.
The event featured guest speakers the Hon Trevor Evans, the Hon Warren Entsch, SPREP’s Director General, Kosi Latu, and an ANZPAC Member panel including CSIRO’s Dr Deborah Lau, Paul Klymenko from Planet Ark Environmental Foundation, Veolia’s Richard Kirkman, Nestlé’s Margaret Stuart, Bridget McBride from ecostore Company, and Dr Christina Shaw from the Vanuatu Environmental Science Society (VESS).
The day also saw founding Members in Vanuatu gather at a local event hosted by VESS, with the launch attracting a range of coverage from both across the ANZPAC region and around the world. Media highlights included ABC News, SBS News, The Australian, the UK’s Daily Mail and the USA’s Scrap Monster .
The ANZPAC Collective Action Group (ACAG)
The ACAG will consist of eighteen Member representatives, with six each from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Representation will cover the value chain for packaging and recycling, including packaging manufacturers, brand owners, retailers, recycling and waste management service providers, environmental groups/community groups and governments. As a senior steering committee for the program, ACAG objectives in FY22 will be to oversee the development and implementation of the ANZPAC Roadmap – a cross-regional plan for how Members of ANZPAC will achieve the regional plastics targets by 2025.
Recovered Polymer Specifications
The Recovered Polymer Specifications resource provides a set of 12 Australian industry-agreed standard specifications for recycled polymer materials. The specifications have been designed to assist companies involved in the sorting and processing of recovered plastic packaging, to ensure that recovered materials can meet specifications for manufacture back into packaging. The Specifications were released alongside a webinar covering how these were developed and how they will be used. View and download the Specifications here.
In case you missed it, check out ANZPAC’s new animation for a snapshot of the program’s objectives, who’s involved and how by working together, we can achieve a circular economy for plastics across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.