Australia’s Environment Ministers will choose tomorrow whether to save the plastic  recycling industry and prevent ongoing plastic packaging pollution or adopt the federal government’s do nothing approach. 

“Without meaningful action, valuable resources will continue to be thrown away; consumers exposed to harmful chemicals in packaging; and households paying for landfill disposal – instead of Australia having a sustainable, circular economy,” said Jeff Angel,  Director of the Boomerang Alliance of 56 NGOs. 

“There is now a consensus amongst the state, territory and local governments, the  packaging and recycling industries, environmental groups and a big majority of the  community that a producer responsibility scheme for packaging is the favoured option for  reform.” 

“The Albanese government has failed to deliver on its promises for packaging reform. The federal environment department is now proposing a feeble, bureaucratic review of existing regulations which have fundamentally failed to produce results. We need an entirely new approach in Australia called producer responsibility and which is proven in many other countries,” Mr Angel said. 

The Boomerang Alliance is calling for: 

• A producer responsible scheme for packaging , with mandatory targets for collection,  recycling, recycled content and reuse 

• New rules to eliminate harmful chemicals from packaging 

• An immediate producer-funded collection service for soft plastics 

Further information: info@boomerangalliance.org.au