The Productivity Commission has joined calls for urgent action on packaging reform in its recently released report, Australia's Circular Economy: unlocking the opportunities.
“To maintain reform momentum, build industry and community confidence and buy in, and enable external scrutiny, it is critical that the Australian Government publishes its proposed packaging regulatory reforms and supporting analysis without delay,” the Productivity Commission said (see page 108 of the report).
Commenting following the publication of the report, the Boomerang Alliance said all key stakeholders are united on mandatory regulation and the Albanese Government should “get cracking”.
Jeff Angel, director of the Boomerang Alliance, said, “We note the government has had this report since August last year but so far we see little concerted movement and instead confused messaging from various government actors. When you also hear the warnings from the plastic recycling sector that without regulation and a growing market for recycled content, that the sector will face business collapses – slumber at the government wheel is unacceptable.”
Last year, key industry groups and the Boomerang Alliance called for a mandatory national Product Stewardship Scheme for Packaging by 2026, covering all packaging types including soft plastics.
The Boomerang Alliance has developed model guidelines for a best practice scheme. They recommend all packaging be designed for circularity, include mandated standards to ensure materials are recovered at scale, extend producer responsibility across the life cycle and supply chain, set national targets, develop secondary markets for recycled content, and be governed under Commonwealth legislation with standardised monitoring, compliance, and enforcement.
“The time for action is now. The longer we delay, the more we postpone jobs, resource savings and environmental gains,” Angel said.
