New regional collective to tackle plastic pollution
By Liam Taylor 18 May 2021
Planet Ark joins the ANZPAC Plastic Pact to back a shared vision of circular economy for plastic throughout region.
The Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands (ANZPAC) Plastic Pact, a coalition of leading cross-regional businesses, NGOs and governments uniting to address plastics pollution, launches today at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney
As a founding member, Planet Ark is committed to working collaboratively towards a new economic model for plastics where the material never ends up as waste or pollution.
The ANZPAC Plastics Pact is a collaborative solution that brings together key players behind a shared vision of a circular economy for plastic aiming to eliminate plastic waste in our region. The organisation aims to help develop tailored regional solutions to plastic pollution and waste by fostering shared knowledge, investment and industry led innovation.
The program has identified four clear, actionable targets to be achieved by 2025 for ANZPAC Members to work towards:
Eliminate unnecessary and problematic plastic packaging through redesign, innovation and alternative (reuse) delivery models.
100% of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.
Increase plastic packaging collected and effectively recycled by 25% for each geography within the ANZPAC region.
Average of 25% recycled content in plastic packaging across the region
ANZPAC is the second regional Pact to join the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, an initiative launched in 2018 by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to unite businesses, governments and other organization behind a common vision and framework for the circular economy of plastic packaging.
The Plastics Pact network has been established to bring about collaboration to achieve this goal across regional initiatives, with each initiative led by one organisation aiming to bring together stakeholders from government, business and the community.
The ANZPAC Plastic Pact will be administered by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO). Brooke Donnelly, APCO CEO, noted that plastic is an issue that crosses international borders and thus requires cooperative international solutions.
“Through the ANZPAC 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,” Donnelly said.
The Plastics Pact network is currently active in the UK, the US, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Chile, South Africa, Canada and Poland. The European Plastics Pact was the first regional initiative to join the network in March 2020, and ANZPAC follows suit as the second regional Pact in the network.
To find out more about the ANZPAC Plastic Pact and Planet Ark’s role as a founding member visit https://anzpacplasticspact.org.au/.
Prior to joining Planet Ark Liam spent his time studying global environmental issues, travelling Southeast Asia on the cheap and working for a sustainable property management company in Bali, Indonesia. Joining the communications team at Planet Ark, he hopes to inspire positive environmental behaviour through effective and positive messaging.
