One label to rule them all!

A new report reveals that two thirds of Australians want more information about how to recycle right and that three quarters want the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) to be on all packaging.

Clean Up Australia chairperson Pip Kiernan says, “This study reinforces that Australians care about their environmental footprint and want to adopt the best practices they can in their everyday habits.”

Brooke Donnelly, APCO CEO, says, “The continued growth of the ARL Program since its launch in 2018 has been tremendous. The Program now counts hundreds of Australia’s best known businesses among its Membership and has been widely endorsed by all levels of Government, along with being recognised as a world-leading consumer education initiative in a report by the UN Environment Programme.

The report complements a recent study by Cleanaway that revealed 92% of Australians believe recycling is important. While the vast majority have the best intentions, 38% of Australians say it’s hard to find clear instructions about how to recycle and 34% of Australians find recycling confusing. 72% of Australians check for the recycling symbols to see where an item should be recycled before disposing of it most or every time.

The 2022 Recycling Behaviours Report uncovered a number of measures that Australians believe would improve their recycling including clear product labelling (56%), consistent information (54%) and a better understanding of the recycling process (46%).

Kiernan says, “We encourage all Australian brand owners and packaging manufacturers to register with the ARL Program. Providing consistent, reliable recycling information and empowering people to make the right recycling decisions is critical.”

Rebecca Gilling, Planet Ark co-CEO, says the report once again highlights that consumers want to recycle right and how important it is that they have widespread access to accurate recycling information.

Gilling says, “Misinformation and confusion are critical factors to overcome when it comes to improving recycling behaviour. Bad habits and beliefs take time to untangle. That is why trust, strategic education and the Australasian Recycling Label are such important elements for changing behaviour at the bin.”

“Awareness of the ARL has dramatically increased over the past four years, with 3 out of 4 Australians now recognising the label. That is thanks to the huge growth in the amount of packaging showing the ARL, investment in promotions through digital and non-digital platforms, as well as local government waste educators championing the program. But there are still plenty of knowledge gaps to fill.”

About the ARL

The Australasian Recycling Label Program is an on-pack labelling scheme that helps consumers to recycle correctly and supports businesses to correctly design for, label and communicate about packaging recyclability. Since the launch of the label in September 2018, more than 750 organisations have joined the ARL Program, including many of Australia’s best-known brands and retailers, with tens of thousands of products already carrying the label in market.

In a nutshell, the ARL provides clear and easy-to-understand instructions on how to correctly dispose of all parts of a product’s packaging. Sound simple? That’s because it is – and it’s exactly what we need. 

Cutting the confusion out of recycling helps us do right by the environment. When we dispose of waste correctly, we divert it from landfill and increase the amount of recyclable materials being repurposed. Plus, less contamination in the recycling bin means cleaner recycling streams. 

What makes the ARL different?

With over 200 labels currently in use, it’s a good question. The big point of difference is that the ARL is the only evidence-based labelling system on the market, and is powered by the Packaging Recyclability Evaluation Portal (PREP).

PREP is an online tool that measures how a piece of packaging will perform in the Australian and New Zealand resource recovery systems. Without a PREP assessment, a piece of packaging can’t even have the ARL on it.

This is important, because determining packaging recyclability is a complex game in which every small detail needs to be considered – shape, size, weight, inks, adhesives and materials.

But PREP covers all of this. In fact, it even accounts for how a piece of packaging fits into the greater recycling ecosystem, from the moment it’s picked up from the kerb, to when it’s sorted at a Materials Recovery Facility and in subsequent processing facilities.

By combining all of this info into one simple platform, PREP allows businesses to easily understand whether their packaging is recyclable, non-recyclable, or if the consumer needs to take extra steps to make sure the item is recycled. 

Over to you

The ARL is certainly doing what it can to cut down confusion, but are there practical things you can do too – aside from looking out for the ARL on products and following the recycling instructions?

Of course. You can use your voice. Whether this means telling your family and friends about the ARL, or getting in touch with your favourite brands to see how they’re making a positive impact.

Are they proudly sporting the ARL? What are they doing to meet the 2025 National Packaging Targets? What initiatives have they put in place to improve their packaging sustainability?

If you want to know, ask them. If you think they can do better, tell them. If they have no idea what they’re doing, give them a friendly nudge in the direction of APCO so they can learn more about the ARL program.

Beyond this, you can also use your purchasing power. If you can, support the brands and businesses doing good things – like using recycled content, and providing packaging that’s recyclable or reusable.