In Aqua’s 1997 seminal hit ‘Barbie Girl’, lead singer Lene Nystrøm sings “Life in plastic, it’s fantastic”. Australians have our own life in plastic, but our relationship to the material is a little less sunny.

In the 2022 – 2023 period, Australia generated about 2.99 Mt of plastic waste, with only 12.5% recovered and 87.5% going to landfill.

The Australian government had high hopes and targets for our plastic consumption, with the National Plastics Plan (2021) creating National Packaging Targets for industry to be achieved by 2025:

• 100% of packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable
• 70% of plastic packaging goes on to be recycled or composted
• 50% average recycled content within packaging (20% for plastic packaging)
• problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics packaging phased out (target 5 of NWPAP)

As we struggle to reach these targets, the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) has been brought in to transition them into mandatory, enforceable rules under Commonwealth law, and supported by Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes and “eco-modulation” fees that financially penalise brands using hard-to-recycle virgin plastics.

While the APCO’s latest national Consumption and Recovery Data (2023–24) shows progress, the Targets are not yet being met:

• 86% of packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable (Target 100%).
• 20% of plastic packaging is recycled or composted (Target 70%).
• 44% average post-consumer recycled content across packaging (Target 50%).
• 46% reduction (from the 2017–18 baseline) in the priority items measured for problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics (APCO).

So what’s the issue? The hold up in meeting these targets is primarily driven by voluntary Product Stewardship models failing to hold large producers accountable, paired with a lack of domestic demand and infrastructure to process recycled materials.

Community trust and investment in government and industry schemes also took a major hit in 2023 when it was revealed that the national soft plastics collection and recycling program, REDcycle had been stockpiling soft plastics instead of processing them as consumers were led to believe.

Soft plastic recycling has only just returned in December 2025, after the opening of Australia’s first large-scale soft plastics recycling facility on the New South Wales Mid North Coast, which processes all the soft plastic waste collected through supermarket and council-managed collection trials. Known as the Soft Plastic Engineered Commodity (SPEC), it can process up to 14,000 tonnes of material a year, with plans to scale up to 24,000 tonnes annually. According to the government’s National Plastics Plan, Australia goes through 70 billion pieces of soft plastics each and every year.

Over our 20+ years as a research agency, Square Holes has worked with a number of organisations on behaviour change and education when it comes to our individual responsibility for waste management. From community campaigns about which bins to use, to learning how to engage young people in environmental action, to building a stronger output as a pioneer in the circular economy movement, Square Holes has delved into community assumptions and attitudes around waste.

What our findings discovered is that while people generally want to do the right thing, good intentions don’t always equal behaviour change. Convenience, habit and cost are all factors in what drives community action – which is why it is vital to understand how people think and behave in a real-world context. Our studies have also demonstrated that while consumers are happy to play their part, they largely believe that it is on industry and government to create the right conditions for community action.

But while it may seem like all doom and gloom when you do up the report card state by state – progress is being made.

STATE REPORT CARDS

New South Wales (Grade: B-)

• Australia’s largest generator of plastic waste.
• Plastic recovery rate approximately 12.5%.
• Significant landfill dependence despite mature recycling infrastructure.

• Triple plastics recycling by 2030.
• Phase out problematic and unnecessary plastics through the NSW Plastics Action Plan.

Key Programs

• Return and Earn container deposit scheme.
• Plastic bans covering lightweight bags, straws, stirrers, cutlery and expanded polystyrene.
• Planned phase-outs of bread tags, pizza savers, produce stickers and other difficult-to-recycle items.

Victoria (Grade: B+)

• Highest plastic recycling tonnage nationally (149 kt).
• Recovery rate around 19%, among the strongest without energy-from-waste.

• Circular Economy Policy with long-term diversion from landfill goals.
• Statewide standardisation of household recycling services.

• Victorian Container Deposit Scheme.
• Four-bin household system: Garbage, Mixed recycling, Food & garden organics, Glass-only recycling
• Recycled First procurement program for infrastructure projects.

Queensland (Grade: C)

• Generates more than 700 kt annually.
• Plastic recovery rate approximately 5.3%.

• Reduce waste sent to landfill.
• Increase resource recovery through Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy.

• Containers for Change.
• Single-use plastics ban.
• Waste levy supporting recycling investment.

Western Australia (Grade: C)

• Recovery rate approximately 6.9%.
• Majority of plastics still landfilled.

• Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2030.
• Increase material recovery and reduce waste generation.

• Containers for Change.
• One of Australia’s strongest single-use plastic ban frameworks.
• Community grants for litter and waste reduction.

South Australia (Grade: A)

Performance

• Best-performing state overall.
• The recovery rate is approximately 30%.
• Lowest reliance on landfill relative to generation.

• High landfill diversion.
• Circular economy leadership.

• Australia’s oldest container deposit scheme (since 1977).
• Expansion of eligible beverage containers.
• Advanced energy-from-waste and resource recovery infrastructure.

Tasmania (Grade: C-)

• Recovery rate approximately 3.6%.
• Heavy reliance on landfill.

• Transition toward circular economy principles.
• Increase recovery through state waste reforms.

• Recycle Rewards container deposit scheme (newest state rollout).
• State waste levy funding infrastructure improvements.

Australian Capital Territory (Grade: C)

• Smallest waste volume.
• Recovery rate approximately 5.4%.

• Ambition to become a zero-waste jurisdiction.
• Circular economy transition.

• ACT Container Deposit Scheme.
• Extensive single-use plastic bans.
• Government procurement policies favouring reusable alternatives.

Northern Territory (Grade: D)

• Lowest plastics recovery rate nationally (around 1.8%).
• Nearly all plastics landfilled.

• Improve resource recovery infrastructure.
• Reduce litter and illegal dumping.

• NT Container Deposit Scheme.
• Community recycling and remote-area collection initiatives.