Thousands of metric tons of milk and juice cartons could soon be sent to landfill because of a proposal to close the only paper mill in Australia that can recycle paperboard cartons.
More than 10 years' work by green groups and industry to build a market for the difficult-to-recycle cartons could be scotched if the paper manufacturer PaperlinX goes ahead with a plan to close its Shoalhaven mill, where most of Australia's cartons are recycled to make envelopes.
"It would be a huge blow to the recycling movement if [the mill closed]," said Planet Ark's founder, Jon Dee.
"If we can't find a market for these cartons they will end up going to landfill."
The expected closure of the plant follows the release of a Planet Ark report showing recycling rates had not kept pace with the amount of waste Australians were producing.
The report showed the public's confusion about what could be thrown into bins, combined with apathy and laziness, meant Australia was still one of the most wasteful countries.
It said too much material was going to landfill, and in some areas recycling rates were "shockingly poor".
Estimates by the packaging industry vary on exactly how many milk and juice cartons are being produced and how many are going to landfill. However, each year the Shoalhaven plant recycled about 6,000 metric tons of polycoated waste, including milk and juice cartons and drink cups, said PaperlinX's manager of corporate affairs, David Shirer.
One of Australia's two manufacturers, Tetra Pak, produces 7,000 metric tons of milk cartons each year.
PaperlinX's profits have come under pressure this year from weak demand and prices overseas, forcing it to cut costs.
Shirer said the company might have to move its Shoalhaven recycling activity to its mill in Maryvale, Victoria, where it would use local recycled pulp to produce fine paper because that plant could not recycle polycoated waste.
Planet Ark is in talks with another big recycling mill to take on the work but failing that it wants federal or state governments to promise to buy the recycled material. The cartons can be turned into high-quality fine paper.
Dee said the industry also needed a better audit of how many milk and juice cartons were recycled because estimates ranged from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of all cartons produced.
The mill's closure would also cause a headache for councils such as Leichhardt, which has only recently added milk cartons to its list of residential rubbish picked up for recycling.
The council, in Sydney's inner west, was so committed to making sure the cartons were recycled it signed a new recycling contract in July, said its media officer, Shane McArdle. Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald