Labor ditches new packaging laws to cut plastic waste, sparking unprecedented ‘scale and breadth of outrage’

The Albanese government has been accused of breaking a promise after it shelved a longstanding commitment to bring in packaging standards intended to force manufacturers and retailers to cut plastic waste.

The federal environment department told industry representatives via email last week that the promise would not be kept before the next election because the government did not want to “exacerbate cost of living pressures”.

The director of the Boomerang Alliance, Jeff Angel, warned “ongoing inaction and token measures won’t be tolerated”.

“The Albanese government’s failure to act on packaging reform as promised is a repudiation of the public’s support of recycling and concerns about the health and environmental impacts of plastic pollution,” he said.

“The scale and breadth of outrage across a broad set of stakeholders from green groups to industry to state governments is something I have not seen before.”

The packaging laws had been under development since a 2023 agreement between the federal and state governments that the then environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, described as “historic”. They would have required producers to cut waste and boost plastics recycling.

Clean Up Australia’s annual litter reports highlight the persistent problem of packaging in the environment, with packaging accounting for 59.5% of all litter reported.

A suite of potential rules would have set design standards for packaging, for example by prohibiting use of certain chemicals, restricting unnecessary or excessive layers of packaging, or limiting the amount of empty space permitted within packaging.

Other potential changes could have required producers to be responsible for the packaging across its full life cycle – from the design stage to how the packaging is used and then disposed of.

The government’s decision to shelve its plans were due to its concern that any costs arising from changes could be passed on to consumers when they bought products such as groceries.

The department email said the environment minister, Murray Watt, wanted to pursue reforms “in a way that balances environmental outcomes with the broader needs of the economy, with the government looking closely at its policies to ensure it does not exacerbate cost of living pressures”.

The email said “a new Commonwealth scheme for packaging will not be introduced in this term of government” and the government would instead work with the states and territories “on opportunities to improve Australia’s packaging regulations and policies in the nearer term”.

The plastics campaign manager at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Cip Hamilton, said the decision was “deeply disappointing”.

“Recyclers want action, businesses want certainty, and environmental organisations want an end to plastic pollution,” she said.

“Almost everyone was at the table, and the government has walked away.”

Hamilton said the laws would have “put the cost and the responsibility back where they belong – on the businesses using the packaging, not the households stuck with it”.

“Plastic pollution is having very real consequences. Little penguins are choking, seabirds are starving, and corals are suffocating,” she said.

Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation chief executive, Chris Foley, said producers wanted certainty. He said a national packaging regime with clear rules would “unlock investment in recycling, and replace fragmented approaches with a more consistent system”.

The chief executive of the Australian Council of Recycling, Suzanne Toumbourou, said the sector was calling for a “nationally consistent scheme with real targets”.

“We are already seeing recycling facilities close, with others under growing pressure, and the investment that built them go to waste, because there is no policy certainty to keep them viable,” she said.

Watt said the government understood that waste and recycling firms faced a range of challenges.

“The Albanese government is working closely with industry, and state and territory governments to strengthen the systems that support recycling, and improve the circularity, of Australia’s packaging,” he said.

“We’re committed to delivering stronger environmental outcomes while keeping costs to consumers and wider industry in check.”

He said the government’s immediate focus was to work with the states and territories to “reduce waste by harmonising packaging and recycling policy in Australia”.