More than 50 per cent of Australia‘‘s packaging materials are recovered through recycling.

The Australian Beverage Industry Environment Council (BIEC) reports that a recent analysis for the National Packaging Covenant Industry Association (NPCIA) of available 2003 data shows 51 per cent of all packaging materials in Australia are recovered.

This compares with a figure of 20 per cent claimed by the Boomerang Alliance of green NGOs.
The National Packaging Covenant Gap Analysis was prepared to inform discussions about packaging and litter targets for the proposed revisions to the National Packaging Covenant (NPC). The report used the best available industry and Government datasets, but noted:

"Fundamental changes are needed to provide reasonably accurate, independently verifiable data to determine progress against Covenant MkII targets and key performance indicators. The use of current datasets and methodologies to determine compliance would clearly be open to considerable challenge for virtually every area examined."

The lack of verifiable data is a key concern for the NPCIA in the push to set recycling targets in the National Packaging Covenant (MkII).

"It is difficult to determine what the targets should be, when data collection for kerbside recycling is virtually absent in all states except NSW and Victoria - and even here it is still unreliable and open to interpretation," NPCIA members say.

"Industry has data on the amount of packaging materials produced in Australia and is offering to contribute to the development of a national system for collecting data on what percentage of this material is recyled."

The NPCIA strongly supports a reduction in waste and is committed to the Covenant and the delivery of measurable outcomes in managing the total environmental impact of packaging.

The Covenant is the result of a partnership between Local, State and Federal Governments and the packaging supply chain in 1999. It is based on the principle of product stewardship by sharing responsibility for the recovery of packaging materials. Its programs focus on supporting kerbside collection and developing secondary markets for recovered materials.