2025-03-17
The Greens have welcomed a historic breakthrough for better management of packaging waste and recycling in Australia, following today’s release of a joint statement from key industry groups in support of a mandatory product stewardship scheme for packaging by 2026.
The question is, will Labor act now?
Quotes attributable to Greens spokesperson for waste and recycling, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson:
“Australia has missed plastic and waste reduction targets for decades because our self-regulated or voluntary system of reducing plastics simply does not work.
“Agreement between industry and environment groups for binding regulations on reducing packaging waste is an important and historic moment. Having the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) sign-on is especially significant.
“APCO has always been coy about publicly advocating for a mandatory product stewardship scheme, even though many of its members want stronger regulation from government. The organisation has been plagued by a handful of powerful packaging companies, retailers or brands that have refused to do the right thing in committing to national waste reduction and recycling targets.
“Successive governments have spent decades delaying action on legislating legally binding packaging reduction regulations, in the hope that big corporations will miraculously pick up their game. The polluters have had their chance to clean up their act and they haven’t.
“Tanya Plibersek threatened multiple times in this parliament that she would step in and regulate polluters if they couldn’t get their act together, but she has never followed through. In the dying days of this parliament there is an opportunity here for her to win some credibility back by finally introducing a mandated product stewardship scheme for packaging and soft plastics.”g