Environment Ministers Meeting (EMM) December 2024

Tuesday 10 December 2024 

Australia’s Environment Ministers met today in Melbourne on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of Naarm to take critical steps towards Australia’s transition to a circular economy and a nature positive future. 

Importantly for brand owners, the EMM marked progress on design standards (specifically design for recycling), harmonisation of kerbside recycling and single use plastics bans, and action on PFAS. 

Please find relevant information to the packaging sector below:

• Agreed to a strengthened National Waste Policy Action Plan that will direct efforts to where it is most needed to achieve the 2030 waste and resource recovery targets. 
• Noted that the Commonwealth will consult with governments and industry in early 2025 on packaging design guidance from the National Design Standards Working Group, which is based on best practice and independent expert views. It provides a clear indication to industry about the importance of recyclability in good packaging design and will inform Australia’s new regulatory scheme for packaging. States and territories emphasised the need for urgent packaging regulatory reform as soon as possible.  
• Agreed in principle a roadmap to harmonise kerbside collection systems, to a minimum set of items that can be collected and recycled across the country. Industry and local government will be consulted on implementation of the roadmap to make recycling easier for households, reduce confusion, increase recycling rates and reduce likelihood of people putting things in the wrong bin. The roadmap provides national guiding principles to inform the inclusion of future items to the minimum lists through periodic reviews. The Australian Local Government Association will be further engaged and consulted on the pathway and criteria to soft plastics collection and recycling.  
• Agreed to release a summary of the National Roadmap: Harmonising action on problematic and unnecessary plastics identifying 24 items that jurisdictions have agreed to work together to reduce variations on, without reversing any measures that have been taken. Agreed in principle that future action be coordinated and consistent to the extent possible. 

To read the full Communique, click here.