Last week, the Boomerang Alliance team, Jeff Angel, Toby Hutcheon, Birte Moliere, and Sara Gibson, travelled to Canberra to advocate for urgent national packaging reform. Their mission: to push for legislation that holds producers responsible for the packaging they put into the market and present an Open Letter signed by over 10,000 Australians to the Minister for the Environment, Senator Murray Watt. With all names included, the letter resembled a thick book, and Minister Watt personally acknowledged the overwhelming public support for reform.
Broad Political Support for Reform
The team met with MPs and Senators across parties, including Independents Sophie Scamps, Kate Chaney, Zali Steggall, Monique Ryan, Nicolette Boele, David Pocock, Labor MPs Jodie Belyea and Alicia Payne, and Senator Peter Whish-Wilson. Discussions focused on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes, mandatory targets for reduction, reuse, recycling, and recycled content, and strategies to ensure reforms would not negatively impact cost of living.
Most politicians acknowledged the problems caused by wasteful packaging and expressed support for government action, reflecting our YouGov survey results showing 73% of Australians support producer responsibility for packaging.
Joint Press Conference
A key moment of the visit was a joint press conference with Dr Sophie Scamps and Kate Chaney, where the Boomerang Alliance team showcased 10–12 kilograms of plastic waste—the average monthly packaging waste produced by each Australian household. The demonstration highlighted the scale of the problem and the urgent need for systemic change.
Why Packaging Reform Matters
Australians use over 1.3 million tonnes of plastic packaging each year, with more than one million tonnes ending up as landfill or litter. Since 1999, voluntary schemes have failed to meet national targets: less than 20% of plastic packaging is recycled, less than 8% of new plastic packaging contains recycled content, and 40% of problem plastics remain in use.
Extended Producer Responsibility shifts the burden from households and local councils to the producers themselves, ensuring better packaging design, higher recycling rates, and a stronger circular economy. Container Refund Schemes currently operating across Australia are a successful example of this approach in action.
Government Progress and Next Steps
Environment Ministers met on 27 March, confirming a national approach to packaging reform. Their communique indicated officials will work on intergovernmental agreements to deliver consistent product stewardship arrangements for packaging and batteries.
While bureaucratic in tone, this signals real progress. The Boomerang Alliance will continue advocating for:
- Comprehensive EPR legislation covering the full lifecycle of packaging
- Mandatory national targets for reduction, reuse, recycling, and recycled content
- Immediate rollout of a national, producer-funded soft plastics collection scheme
All the political, industry, and public ducks are lined up. Now it’s time for the Government to act decisively and implement meaningful packaging reform.
