DCCEEWs Consultation on Regulatory Reform
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) held a stakeholder update on the public consultation process for Packaging Regulatory Reform on Wednesday 25 September 2024. They are consulting on the options to better understand their impacts, benefits and costs.
APCO is supportive of the packaging regulatory reform and we encourage all APCO Members to participate in this consultation process.
In the stakeholder update DCCEEW presented three options for regulatory reform:
Option 1- Strengthening administration of the co-regulatory arrangements
- Current co-regulatory arrangement remains unchanged
- APCO implements its 2030 Strategic Plan to support Industry to meet the Covenant goals
- Stronger compliance and enforcement of the NEPM to reduce free riders
- Increased education to support behaviour change and participation by industry and the community
Option 2 - National mandatory requirements for packaging...
- ...through Commonwealth legislation, mandated on individual regulated entities:
- bans on problematic materials and chemicals of concern
- progressive bans of packaging to mandate minimum recyclability performance
- minimum recycled content thresholds
- Current co-regulatory arrangement ceases
Option 3 - A national extended producer responsibility scheme...
- …supported by an administrator with industry-level outcomes
- Mandated requirements on regulated entities like Option 2, but eco-modulated fees for recyclable design replace progressive bans
- EPR fees based on packaging placed on the market, could support administrator and industry to deliver outcomes
The full consultation paper will be available on DCCEEW’s website (https://consult.dcceew.gov.au/) on Friday, 27 September 2024.
Chris Foley, CEO, "We know from our consultation over the past 2 years that our Members are supportive of regulatory reform, and we view this as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to set the packaging industry on a path toward meaningful reform. Together, we can achieve better environmental outcomes and drive lasting change for the future of packaging in Australia. We encourage all our Members to contribute to the discussion paper."
We will be discussing the APCO 2030 Strategy in light of the consultation process for packaging regulatory reform at a Member-exclusive webinar on 10 October 2024, which Members can sign up for here.
More information on the history of the packaging regulatory reform can be found on DCCEEW’s website here.
For more detail on APCO’s 2030 strategy Members can access a recording of our launch webinar here, and a copy of the APCO 2030 strategy can be found here.
Background
In October 2022, all environment ministers agreed to reform the regulation of packaging in Australia. DCCEEW is working on reforming Australia’s packaging regulations to support the transition to, and maintenance of, a circular economy for packaging in Australia. This will ensure packaging is designed to eliminate waste and be recyclable, is collected and recycled at scale, and circulated in the economy for as long as possible at its highest value and best use.
In August 2024, APCO released its 2030 Strategy that includes eco-modulation to bridge critical economics gaps facing the circular economy for packaging in Australia. APCO’s 2030 strategy will deliver brands a social license for their packaging, provide assurance to the waste and recycling industry of competitive pricing and build back consumer confidence.