Australia shelves national packaging scheme as plastics recycler enters administration

The Australian government has confirmed that no new Commonwealth packaging scheme will be introduced this term, days after plastics recycler Recycling Plastics Australia entered voluntary administration, putting about 60 Adelaide jobs and domestic plastics-processing capacity at risk. Pact Group chair Raphael Geminder described the outcome as a policy rather than a technology failure, while the Australian Council of Recycling and the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association pointed to the unsustainable economics facing plastics recyclers. The environment department says it will instead work with states and territories on nearer-term packaging measures, with no decision taken on how the recyclability grading framework will be used.

Why this mattersThe retreat leaves recyclers built with federal money exposed to imports and fragmented state rules, with no national scheme to underwrite demand for their output.

• Recycling Plastics Australia entered voluntary administration, putting about 60 Adelaide jobs at risk
• The federal environment department told consultation participants that a new Commonwealth packaging scheme will not be introduced in this term of government
• The department says it will work with states and territories on nearer-term packaging regulation instead, with no decision on the recyclability grading framework
• Pact Group chair Raphael Geminder said the government banned plastic waste exports and put AUD 137 million into recycling plants without creating the market conditions for them to be viable
• Australia has banned the export of plastic waste, requiring the material to be processed domestically
• The latest consultation on the Design for Kerbside Recyclability Grading Framework drew on more than 65 interviews