text: Preventing a Global Recycling Armageddon - Melbourne Quality Assurance
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  Original article from Food and Beverage Industry News.
  It would be fair to say that most Australians could not imagine life without household recycling. Kerbside newspaper collections commenced across the country in the 1970s and 1980s, followed shortly by the yellow-lidded bin collection of fully commingled materials. Recycling has become as entrenched in the household routine as emptying the mailbox or locking the front door. Until now, perhaps.
  This complex global problem cannot be solved by simple solutions that some may suggest. All stakeholders along the supply chain – from packaging manufacturers, product manufacturers and retailers to the consumer, local councils, collectors, and recycling processors – have a role to play in finding environmentally and economically sustainable solutions.
  In the coming years, a circular economy must be developed. What is a circular economy? Simply put, it's when waste materials, such as packaging avoids being landfilled and is repurposed or recycled to reduce the use of virgin materials. Examples include, converting plastic milk bottles into new milk bottles or into park benches, or using glass to make new bottles or low-grade glass in civil construction.
  With the federal government endorsing national recycling and recyclability targets for packaging, what can manufacturers do?
  [1] Increase Recycled Content
  [2] Design For Re-Use, Recycling Or Composting
  [3] Design For Source Separation
  Availability of recycled packaging materials: Retailers and manufacturers have broadcast their intent to purchase greater volumes of recycled plastics such as recycled PET (rPET), which is currently in short supply, particularly given the high standards for food grade materials. The AFGC is working with APCO and the packaging industry to increase availability of these materials.
  Research and development: The AFGC is working with APCO and the packaging and recycling industries to develop new compostable plastic substitutes that are fit-for-purpose and meet food grade and medicinal product packaging specifications. Additionally, research and development of new processing technologies that have the potential to recover materials currently landfilled are also required. For example, chemically processing end of life plastics (Numbers 4-7) into oil-based products such as bio diesel.
  Practical infrastructure planning: We will continue to collaborate with all stakeholders to identify the recycling infrastructure needs of a circular economy. This will be aligned with the changing mix of packaging materials as the availability of recycled packaging material increases and as new processing technologies are developed over the next five to ten years. This whole-of-supply-chain approach is critical to provide industry and government with confidence to invest in the plant and equipment that is necessary to achieve the national packaging targets.