The ANZPAC Plastics Pact has launched in the Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands region, uniting businesses, NGOs and governments behind a series of 2025 targets to eliminate plastic waste.
Lead by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), the new cross-regional program will work to transform the region’s response to plastic.
It 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.
“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,” APCO CEO Brooke Donnelly said.
“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.”
ANZPAC Members will work towards four clear, actionable targets by 2025:
• Eliminate unnecessary and problematic plastic packaging through redesign, innovation and alternative (reuse) delivery models.
• 100 per cent of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.
• Increase plastic packaging collected and effectively recycled by 25 per cent for each geography within the ANZPAC region.
• Average of 25 per cent recycled content in plastic packaging across the region.
ANZPAC’s founding members and supporters include: ALDI Stores, Asahi Beverages, Coles Group Limited, Clean Up Australia, Samoa Tourism Authority, Unilever Australia, Vanuatu Recyclers and Waste Management Association, Woolworths Group and Veolia Environmental Services.
The immediate next steps for the ANZPAC program to achieve its 2025 goals is to develop a roadmap for action.
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