The release of the Commonwealth Packaging Regulatory Reform Discussion paper on 27 September 2024 sets out future options for single use and problematic packaging.
The Federal Government proposes to have new regulations in place after 2026.
‘Over the last 25 years of co-regulatory (voluntary) product stewardship for packaging, the industry has failed to deliver on promises and targets,” a statement read.
- 84 per cent of packaging is recyclable but less than 20 per cent of plastic packaging is actually recycled.
- 20 per cent of plastic packaging should contain recycled content, only 6 per cent currently does.
- There are no targets for plastic reductions or for reusable packaging
The Boomerang Alliance is supporting a mandatory EPR (Product Stewardship) model. This would require packaging producers to be legally responsible for the packaging they place into the market and must include mandatory targets on reduction, reuse and recycling of all packaging.
A mandatory EPR (product stewardship) scheme is one of the proposed government options. Mandatory product stewardship is an approach taken in Europe but largely ignored in this country.
Soft plastic recycling collections needs to be fixed, and we are proposing the establishment an industry-funded stewardship scheme for soft plastics to be introduced as soon as practical.