Majority of household appliances packaged in unsustainable material, Choice says

Comparing the packaging from 38 kettles, air fryers and stick vacuums across different household brands Choice found while some manufacturers are using recyclable cardboard and fibre to package their products, others are using unstable materials such as landfill-bound polystyrene.

The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) has set an ambitious goal to make all packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. Australia will fail to meet this if companies do not switch to sustainable alternatives soon and gaps in consumer understanding are not addressed, Choice said.

The best products were the Black+Decker Power Series Extreme stick vacuum (which had 100% recycled packaging, including three REDcycle components), followed by the Beko PowerClean Pro stick vacuum (96%) and the Dyson V8 and V12 Detect Slim Absolute stick vacuums (both 95%).

The worst products were reprted to be the Dreame Cordless Vacuum T30 stick vacuum (30%), the Cuisinart Multi-temp cordless kettle (38%) and then the Shark Cordless Apex Pro Pet Vacuum (39%).

In nearly all cases, manufacturers are not doing a good job of making it clear to consumers in their package labelling which components are recyclable and what consumers should do with them, he said.

These brands still have plenty of work to do if the APCO is to be reached, he said.

Guardian Australia contacted the relevant brands, with a spokesperson for Cuisinart saying the company is a member of APCO, and is reviewing their packaging across their brands to reduce waste.