"With too much waste produced and too little business value being created from it, Australia urgently needs to deliver national regulatory reform for packaging. Care and consultation are good in a complex area, but it's time to get this done," said Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association, Australian Industry Group.
"A Bill before the Senate right now is a welcome prompt for faster action, though not necessarily a blueprint for the system we need.
"Our members – who span manufacturers of packaging and products that use packaging, importers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers and recyclers – have participated constructively in previous rounds of consultation under successive governments.
"They have been calling for action for years, to be more sustainable with their packaging and to embrace innovation across the supply chain, but the lack of regulatory certainty currently hinders investment and implementation of new solutions.
"Without national action, we risk states regulating on their own and creating a costlier, less effective patchwork system.
"The proliferation of disparate state Container Deposit Schemes shows how easily this can happen, cutting efficiency relative to a national solution and upping the regulatory burden on suppliers operating across state lines. A national mandatory packaging stewardship scheme will create a level playing field where all packaging within Australia faces a single authority setting design and compliance requirements, a single reporting process and – ideally – a single regulator.
"Nuance will be needed in discussions about different material streams, and sub-categories within them, as well as consideration of the technical and regulatory requirements of the applications. The Australian system will also need to have regard to the existing requirements in the markets of our major trading partners, where we source many finished goods that are already packaged.
"Businesses will need time to transition to any new arrangements, and consultation will be needed to ensure timelines are achievable and sufficient to stand up new systems for packaging data, and without any overlarge generation of additional waste from repackaging.
"Packaging regulatory reform is obviously not easy, but there is broad support and good will to get it done. Australian Industry Group and our members stand ready to help," Mr Willox said.
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