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RESOURCES

It’s time for packaging producers to step up and take full responsibility for the waste and pollution they create.

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The Boomerang Alliance is calling on the packaging industry and retailers to own the impact of their choices. As we look ahead to the Commonwealth Government's commitment to introducing a Mandatory Product Stewardship Scheme for Packaging by 2025, we’ve unveiled our model guidelines based on international best practices.

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These guidelines include rigorous Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requirements, ensuring that manufacturers are accountable from the design stage through to the end of the packaging lifecycle. This approach means products will be collected, recovered, and reused instead of being left to litter our environment or ending up in landfills.

10 GUIDING PRINCIPLES

We have outlined 10 key principles that must be incorporated into Australia’s mandated national product stewardship scheme:

 

  1. Prioritising Avoidance and Reduction

  2. Best Practice Eco-Design of Products

  3. Mandated Standards

  4. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Across the Entire Lifecycle & Supply Chain

  5. Mandatory National Targets and Obligations

  6. Development of Secondary Markets

  7. A National Scheme Managed Under Commonwealth Legislation

  8. A Standardised Monitoring, Compliance, and Enforcement Regime

  9. Commitment to Continuous Improvement

  10. Consumer Education and Awareness

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Beyond just holding producers accountable, mandated packaging standards must ensure that packaging is actually recovered in practice. Standards must cover all reusable, compostable, and recyclable packaging. 

The current Australian Recycling Label (ARL) doesn’t require packaging to be recycled in reality, which results in most plastic packaging heading straight to landfill. 

CIRCULAR ECONOMY APPROACH

​​We advocate for a circular economy approach to packaging, engaging the entire supply chain and holding producers directly responsible for meeting stringent reduction, recovery, and recycled content targets.

To achieve a best-practice circular economy for packaging, national action is essential. 

AUSTRALIA'S SOFT PLASTIC REFORM

The collapse of REDcycle and the subsequent soft plastics collection crisis highlights the failure of voluntary programs. 

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With Australia’s national plastic packaging recycling rate at a dismal 12%, urgent reform is necessary. This must include adopting extended producer responsibility principles, similar to those driving container refund schemes.

 

Container refund schemes, now active across Australia, make beverage producers responsible for the full costs of recovering their products, leading to the recycling of 60-80% of containers—a success that still has room for improvement.

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In Europe, producers must bear the costs of collecting, transporting, and treating problematic plastics. Australia should be following this lead.

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We want an industry-funded soft plastics collection scheme introduced as soon as possible.

WHY WE NEED A REFILL REVOLUTION

​Our single use, throwaway culture is polluting our planet and we need to urgently turn off the tap – shifting from disposables to a future or refill and reuse.

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