Only a third of Australia’s plastic packaging waste ends up being recycled, according to a new report.

The study, conducted by the University of Technology Sydney and commissioned by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), tracked different kinds of packaging waste in the 2017-18 financial year.

It estimated that only 56% of all packaging waste in Australia was recovered and recycled. Of that, 72% of paper packaging was recycled, but only 32% of plastics.

All figures in the report were estimates, with a margin of error that varied from 3% to 17%.

According to the report, an estimated 72% of aluminium was recycled, and 54% of metal generally.

This means more than 600,000 tonnes of plastic packaging – out of 900,000 tonnes used – was not recycled last year. PET, HDPE and PVC plastic had even lower recycling rates at below 30%.

The report also said Australia exported a high percentage of its waste to other countries to recycle, instead of processing it domestically.

The APCO chief executive, Brooke Donnelly, said Australia needed to boost its domestic recycling industry and create a “circular economy” – where manufactured goods were consumed, reused and recycled.

“Of all packaging that is collected for recycling, 19% is getting exported,” she said. “That’s a significant portion.

“The general consensus, from both government and industry, is to move towards the circular economy. It is conceptually a wonderful thing but is very difficult to translate that into operation.

“We’re really good at collecting it and sorting it, let’s find more ways to reprocess it here and find domestic solutions.”

Last year, a Senate inquiry into recycling heard that Australia’s domestic recycling industry was “immature” – according to a joint submission from 10 local councils.

This week’s report recommended that the low plastic recycling rate could be improved with better separation (both at the kerbside level and beyond), superior sorting technology and increased manual sorting.

Donnelly said manufacturers also had to do more to make sure their products and packaging were easily recyclable.

“It’s a little bit of everything. We need to educate consumers better about what bin you are putting your packaging waste in, there needs to be investment in better technology in the recovery stage. And there needs to be work around brands and manufacturers designing packaging around the end of life of their product.”

She said manufacturers needed to make packages so they were more recyclable, such as having clear labelling about how it could be recycled, or using less plastic entirely.

According to the report, Australians created 2m tonnes of paper waste, and recycled 1.5m tonnes. Overall, 4.5m tonnes of packaging waste were produced last year, and 2.5m tonnes were recycled.

Donnelly said there were still some data gaps in the recycling statistics, and that in future years the industry and researchers should work on getting further information and better data.