The Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR) has warned that more than one million tonnes of plastic packaging continues to be sent to landfill or littered each year because the Australian Government has failed to deliver promised national packaging reforms, leaving Australian recycling infrastructure underutilised and some facilities at risk of closure.
Releasing the statement as Plastic Free July draws to a close, ACOR says Australia has invested in the infrastructure needed to recycle significantly more plastic packaging, but policy delays are preventing that capacity from being fully utilised.
According to the organisation, Australia uses more than 1.3 million tonnes of plastic packaging annually, yet only 19 per cent is collected for recycling. More than one million tonnes is landfilled or littered each year, while an estimated 320,000 tonnes of domestic plastic reprocessing capacity remains available, much of it operating below capacity.
ACOR CEO Suzanne Toumbourou said recyclers had invested in facilities, technology and skilled workforces on the expectation that governments would deliver the national packaging reforms agreed by environment ministers.
"What makes the delay so hard to justify is the cumulative cost of doing nothing, which could exceed $32 billion by 2050, while plastic waste in Australia rises to almost five million tonnes a year. All the while, sophisticated recycling facilities are operating below capacity. This is not a shortage of infrastructure. It is a failure of Australian Government policy."
Toumbourou said repeated delays had left many recyclers in a difficult commercial position.
"Recyclers invested in the infrastructure, technology and skills needed to remanufacture plastic packaging in Australia on the strength of government commitments to reform. They have now been left in dire straits by repeated delay."
The industry body points to the 2023 commitment by Australia's environment ministers to introduce national packaging reform by 2025, including mandatory requirements covering packaging design, recyclability and recycled content. It says those reforms have yet to be delivered.
According to ACOR, the absence of national requirements for recycled content and stronger market incentives is allowing imported virgin plastic to undercut locally recycled material. It estimates Australia's plastic recycling infrastructure is operating at around 50 per cent utilisation and could fall to 30 per cent by 2030 without policy intervention.
"The Australian Government helped fund recycling plants and prohibited the export of unprocessed plastic waste but failed to create the regulatory and market settings needed for that material to be remade into new products," Toumbourou said.
"That failure now threatens the very facilities the Government helped fund. Facilities cannot survive indefinitely at half capacity. Once plants close, Australia loses the equipment, workforce, technical expertise and sovereign capability needed to recycle its own plastic."
ACOR also points to developments in Europe, where it says around one million tonnes of plastic recycling capacity was lost between 2023 and 2025 as recyclers faced weak demand, rising operating costs and competition from cheaper imports.
The organisation argues that introducing mandatory national packaging laws could reduce plastic waste by 370,000 tonnes annually, cut emissions by 700,000 tonnes each year, generate $2.5 billion in economic activity, support almost 20,000 jobs and attract a further $220 million in private investment.
"The cost of reform is negligible. The cost of Australian Government delay is staggering," Toumbourou said.
"The Government must commit to a firm timeline to introduce mandatory national packaging laws that hold producers responsible for the packaging they place on the market and drive demand for Australian recycled content."
