The Australian government is launching a public consultation as it aims to overhaul plastic packaging laws in the country. 

The consultation was launched on 27 September 2024 and stakeholders have until 28 October 2024 to submit their feedback. 

The proposed legislation aims to reduce the use of toxic chemicals in packaging and mandating a minimum recycled content. 

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) in Australia recently conducted a stakeholder update on the public consultation process for Packaging Regulatory Reform.  

The meeting, held on 25 September 2024, focused on three potential regulatory reform options aimed at achieving the 2025 National Packaging Targets. 

During the update, DCCEEW outlined the following reform options: bolstering the administration of co-regulatory arrangements, implementing national mandatory requirements for packaging, and introducing a national extended producer responsibility scheme.  

The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), the entity responsible for facilitating the delivery of the 2025 National Packaging Targets, has expressed its support for the packaging regulatory reform.  

APCO is tasked with guiding Australia towards meeting ambitious packaging sustainability goals by 31 December 2025. 

The 2025 National Packaging Targets set forth a vision for a future where all packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable.  

Specifically, the targets include achieving a 100% rate for such packaging, recycling or composting 70% of plastic packaging, including an average of 50% recycled content in packaging (up from the previous target of 30% set in 2020), and phasing out problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics packaging.  

In 2022, Australia produced seven million tonnes (t) of plastic packaging, yet only 20% was recovered for recycling or composting.  

According to data available with the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS), an estimated 145,000t of plastic enters the Australian environment annually. 

Australians' consumption of plastic packaging surged from an average of 3,463 pieces per person in 2020-21 to 5,148 in 2021-22.  

AMCS has welcomed the government's initiative, calling it "the biggest opportunity to stop the mountains of needless plastic the country produces each year". 

AMCS Plastics Campaign manager Cip Hamilton said: "Global packaging corporations are making it impossible to avoid needless plastics. The current voluntary actions to cut plastic packaging in Australia have failed, with businesses failing to take sustainability seriously and their lacklustre efforts ineffective at driving the scale and pace of change needed to reduce plastic pollution. 

“The Australian government has put three options on the table to change the way businesses package goods in Australia. The new laws must tackle the shocking amount of disposable plastic packaging that businesses are forcing on us.  

“Businesses need to be held to account, and to reduce their reliance on disposable plastic packaging. The new laws must introduce mandatory targets for plastic reduction, that prioritise avoidance and reuse, ahead of recycling and composting.” 

Last month, the Australian Government announced a A$15.6m ($10.5m) investment to enhance soft plastics recycling in Victoria.