Circular economy - Australian Food & Grocery Council

Packaging plays an important role in maintaining product freshness, quality and safety across many product and food types.

Australia’s food, beverage and grocery manufacturers, like the community and government, understand the impact that plastic and packaging can have on the environment when disposed of irresponsibly.

Sustainable packaging

The AFGC and our members are dedicated to enhancing circularity across the supply chain, with a focus on:

sustainable packaging materials
packaging design
increased recyclability
recycled content in packaging
waste and recycling standards.

The sector is committed to increasing the recycling rate and recyclability of product packaging through the 2025 National Packaging Targets.

In late 2020, the AFGC was awarded a grant from the Australian Government’s National Product Stewardship Investment Fund to develop a product stewardship scheme for plastic packaging with an initial focus on diverting soft plastics from landfill. As an industry-led and funded scheme, Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia (SPSA) is coordinating efforts to:

increase the recycling and reuse of plastic packaging
achieve the National Packaging Targets
increase the availability of high quality and safe recycled content.

Visit SPSA for more information.

Mandatory packaging design

Strengthened packaging regulation will drive investment, minimise waste and support circular economy industries and jobs.

In 2023, Environment Ministers agreed to introduce mandatory packaging design obligations. These are based on international best practice. The Environment Ministers agreed to:

new national packaging regulation be implemented under Commonwealth law

the Australian Government being the regulator, with mandates on how packaging is designed, minimum recycled content requirements and prohibiting harmful chemicals being used

design requirements for packaging to be finalised by the end of 2024, in consultation with the industry.

The AFGC has actively engaged with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) to provide member insights. We anticipate a public consultation process to start in mid-2024. The mandatory design requirements are expected to be in place by the end of 2025.

Examples of member actions

Many member organisations are involved in meeting the targets. For example (as at October 2021):

Food and grocery manufacturers are investing in research and development to innovate packaging design to meet the National Packaging Targets.

The industry is increasing the use of recycled content in packaging.

The Australasian Recycling Label is in place to guide consumers and assist brand owners on packaging recyclability.

Brand owners are reviewing packaging design using guidance from the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) to identify problematic and unnecessary single-use items. They are using the PREP tool to assess packaging recyclability.