Pact Group has urged a Senate Inquiry to support mandatory national packaging regulation, telling the committee the current voluntary approach is failing to drive sufficient demand for recycled content or investment in Australia's circular economy.
Pact representatives Paul Miskell, GM of Pact Recycling Joint Ventures, and Simon Dowding, head of Strategic Communications & Government Relations, appeared before the Senate Inquiry on 26 June, which is examining the proposed Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme for Packaging (No Time to Waste) Bill 2026. Introduced by Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, the Bill proposes a legally binding Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme that would require producers, importers and distributors to take responsibility for the end-of-life management of packaging placed on the Australian market. It would also make Australia's National Packaging Targets mandatory.
In Pact's submission to the committee, Miskell and Dowding emphasised stronger regulation is needed to accelerate the transition to more sustainable packaging.
Pact manufactures packaging for the food, beverage, dairy and household sectors, alongside reusable transport packaging, and operates eight plastic recycling facilities across Australia and New Zealand.
The company said that while it produced more than 189,000 tonnes of plastic packaging and other products over the past 12 months, only 16 per cent was manufactured using recycled plastic.
According to Pact, the barrier is not technology but market demand.
"There are no regulatory requirements and so the market demand for recycled materials is not strong enough," Dowding and Miskall told the inquiry.
"Some progressive brand owners are choosing more sustainable packaging, but many are not because there is no incentive to change."
Pact argued that the existing voluntary framework is not delivering the scale of change required and said it supports the intent of the proposed legislation, including the introduction of mandatory national packaging regulations under an Extended Producer Responsibility scheme.
The company said a well-designed EPR framework would improve packaging design, increase recycling rates, stimulate demand for Australian recycled content, create jobs and provide greater certainty for investment in local recycling and manufacturing.
Pact also positioned the reforms as an opportunity to strengthen Australia's manufacturing capability.
"This is not just a sustainability reform. It is an opportunity to build our sovereign capability with a circular and self-reliant packaging and recycling industry in Australia."
The company urged the committee to support national action on packaging regulation and ensure any future scheme rewards packaging designed for recyclability, the use of recycled content and investment in Australian recycling infrastructure.
The Committee is due to report back to Parliament by 6 August 2026.
