Law Council of Australia

Legal Practice Section

Reform of Packaging Regulation: Consultation Paper

This submission has been prepared by the Australian Environment and Planning Law Group (AEPLG) of the Law Council of Australia’s Legal Practice Section.

The AEPLG welcomes the opportunity to comment on the potential options to reform Australia’s packaging regulation to minimise packaging waste and plastic pollution and to support the transition to a circular economy for packaging.1

The AEPLG continues to support a national approach to waste management in order to facilitate a coherent, efficient, and environmentally responsible approach to waste reduction and recycling.2 AEPLG considers the national approach should incorporate consistent regulatory measures, including application of the polluter pays principle.

Given the ineffectiveness of the Australian Packaging Covenant to meet Australia’s waste reduction and recycling targets,3 the AEPLG supports option 3, being a national extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging, combined with mandatory requirements on regulated entities. The 2018 Senate Waste and Recycling Report4 recommended that certain product stewardship schemes established under the (now repealed) Product Stewardship Act 2011 (Cth) be mandatory, particularly for tyres, mattresses, e-waste and photovoltaic panels.5

Read the full submission below.

1 This submission takes the term ‘circular economy’ to mean an economic system focused on waste minimisation and the regeneration of materials or products by better design and re-use, especially as a means of continuing production in a sustainable and environmentally responsible manner.
2 Law Council of Australia, Submission to Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications, Parliament of Australia, Inquiry into Waste and Recycling Industry in Australia (23 October 2017) <link>.
3 Product Stewardship Amendment (Packaging and Plastics) Bill 2019, Second Reading Speech, Commonwealth of Australia Parliamentary Debates, 11 September 2019, p. 66.
4 Senate Environment and Communications Reference Committee, Parliament of Australia, Never waste a crisis: the waste and recycling industry in Australia Report, June 2018, rec 12.
5 See Law Council of Australia, Submission to House of Representative’s Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources, Parliament of Australia, Inquiry into Innovative Solutions in Australia’s Waste Management and Recycling Industries (31 January 2020) <link>.

Last Updated on 06/11/2024

Share

Related Documents
Tags

Most recent items in Legal Practice Section


Trending Items in Legal Practice Section