• APCO CEO Chris Foley joins PKN Publisher Lindy Hughson.
    APCO CEO Chris Foley joins PKN Publisher Lindy Hughson.
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PKN talks... National Packaging Targets 2025 in review, and next steps for the packaging industry with APCO CEO Chris Foley.

The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) has released its review of the 2025 National Packaging Targets, in which it calls for a stronger co-regulatory model that will strike a balance between industry-led action and effective government regulation.

In this episode, PKN managing editor & publisher Lindy Hughson sits down with APCO CEO Chris Foley, to talk through the key findings of the review and to hear about APCO's vision for the way forward.

In the face of the disappointing reality delivered by the headline data that the targets are not on track to be met by December 2025, Foley dissects some of the data in depth and explains that the biggest challenge lies with the target of recycling or composting 70 per cent of plastic packaging.

The discussion gives us a comprehensive evaluation of current packaging solutions for flexible and rigid plastic packaging and whether we can meet our capacity to recycle them.

We discuss the APCO Review's key findings and suggestions, with a focus on what can be achieved by the 2025 deadline, and also looking beyond 2025. Foley talks on resetting the co-regulatory and collaborative frameworks between government and industry, and interventions to regulate packaging materials to promote circularity.

Read more on PKN here

 Download the APCO report here

Food & Drink Business

Three weeks after its official opening, the $17.14 million Central Coast Food Manufacturing Innovation Hub at Ourimbah is preparing to welcome its first tenants. Food & Drink Business toured the facility to see the production spaces, pilot plant, and training programs designed to grow the region’s $2 billion food and beverage manufacturing sector.

Reploid Group is expanding into Oceania, with the launch of a new sales company in New Zealand. Reploid builds modular plants that use insect larvae to repurpose food waste, having the potential to fill the gap left by Goterra’s collapse into voluntary administration earlier this year.

Welcome to the July edition of PLAY, your monthly wrap-up of the biggest stories shaping Australia's food and beverage manufacturing industry. This month we're looking at court action, a major take-private deal, alleged tomato provenance fraud, new leadership and investment in manufacturing capability. Let's get into it.