- Government releases public consultation paper on overhauling Australia’s plastic packaging laws to tackle 7 millions tonnes of packaging used here each year
- Australia must cut needless plastic packaging – recycling won’t get us out of this mess
- Businesses have failed to cut plastic packaging fast enough – we need mandatory target to reduce plastic packaging and prioritise reuse
The Australian Government’s packaging law reform is our biggest opportunity to stop the mountains of needless plastic we produce each year, the Australian Marine Conservation Society said after the government released a consultation paper on packaging late on Friday.
The government is considering new laws to govern how packaging is designed, stop the use of certain toxic chemicals in packaging, and mandate a minimum amount of recycled content in packaging.
AMCS Plastics Campaign Manager Cip Hamilton said: “Our lives are wrapped in plastic. It’s around the food we eat and what we drink, it’s in the clothes we wear, and it’s accumulating in our bodies.
“Australia is producing too much disposable packaging – 7 million tonnes a year. Our once pristine beaches are becoming a dumping ground for plastics. Our oceans are already choking in plastic, which is killing our marine life and even turning up in our food. A turtle has a 22% chance of dying if it eats just one piece of plastic.
“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.
“Plastic pollution occurs across the lifecycle of plastic products, so relying on recycling will not end plastic pollution, and will not address the critical environmental concerns facing our planet.
“Australia needs genuine policies and regulations that focus on reducing consumption of needless plastics, and sets a clear pathway to support businesses to enact solutions at the scale needed to inflict real change. Australia now has the opportunity to set the system up that will drive down disposable plastics, and shift businesses and communities to a system that ends plastic pollution.”
Plastic pollution statistics
- Plastic pollution is found in more than 60% of seabird species, and over half the world’s turtles have eaten marine debris including plastics.
- An estimated 145,000 tonnes of Australia’s plastic leaks into the environment every year – about 250 kilograms every minute.
- Plastic packaging is one of the worst offenders, with soft plastics, food packaging and beverage litter accounting for nearly 70% of all plastics found by Clean Up Australia volunteers.
- Australians consumed 5,148 pieces of plastic packaging per person on average in 2021-22, an increase from 3,463 in 2020-21.
- Australia produced 7 million tonnes of packaging in 2022, with just 20% recovered for recycling or composting.