The Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia (WMRR) is calling for urgent government action to cut Australia’s reliance on virgin plastics, warning that the nation is falling behind global efforts to tackle the challenge of plastics.

New figures from the 2023–24 Plastic Flows and Fates Report show:

• Australia consumed four (4) million tonnes of plastic products and packaging (up from 3.9 million tonnes the year before).
• 3.2 million tonnes reached end-of-life, with only 14% recovered – a rate that has remained stagnant for years.
• Around 87% of plastics still go directly to landfill.

“The data is clear – Australia is consuming more virgin plastics while recovery rates remain stubbornly low. This is simply not good enough when we know the devastating environmental, economic, and climate costs of plastic. We simply use too much plastic in Australia, and we need to tackle the domestic challenge of that now, by focusing on the entire value chain.’ said Gayle Sloan, CEO of WMRR.

The report highlights that 446 kilotonnes (kt) of plastics were recovered in 2023–24, an increase on the previous year. Domestic reprocessing capacity has nearly doubled to 600 kt, with a further 624 kt planned in the next five years.

Despite this growth, only half of existing capacity is being used. According to WMRR, recyclers and remanufacturers are fighting an unfair battle: those producing virgin plastics avoid the costs of managing products at end-of-life, while households, communities and essential industry carry the burden of collection, sorting and reprocessing.

“We have the skills and expertise to remanufacture plastics here in Australia, but government leadership is needed to make it viable when competing with virgin plastics.

”Australia’s plastic consumption is dominated by imported finished goods (62%) and products made from virgin resin (31%), with just 7% produced from recycled plastics. Local production of virgin resins has collapsed over the past 15 years, leaving only polypropylene in domestic manufacture.

Operating in a global market, Australia struggles to compete on price due to higher energy, labour and property costs. Ms Sloan said this makes it even more important to create robust local markets for recycled plastics.

“We must fix the system at home – not just restrict exports of Australia plastic, but reduce imports and build strong domestic demand for recycled materials. It can no longer be acceptable for virgin plastic producers to externalise costs and emissions while recyclers carry the load,” Ms Sloan said.

Other countries are taking decisive action – mandating recycled content in packaging, setting enforceable reduction targets, and investing heavily in circular systems.

“Australia must match the ambition we see overseas. Otherwise, we will keep exporting our problem and miss the opportunity to create jobs, investment and real progress in the circular economy,” Ms Sloan said.

WMRR is urging federal and state governments to urgently:

• Finalise the national extended producer responsibility scheme for packaging, with mandatory design requirements.
• Introduce enforceable recycled content targets across packaging, products and government procurement.
• Phase down virgin plastics through strong regulatory levers.
• Introduce a tax or levy on virgin plastics to level the playing field.

“We cannot recycle our way out of the plastics challenge unless government intervenes to change the economics. Australia has the capacity and the expertise – what we need now is ambition and leadership to make plastics truly circular,” Ms Sloan concluded.