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Posted: 2023-06-09 09:43:21

Australia's packaging industry will be forced to clean up its act under mandatory waste-busting regulations that will also deal with harmful chemicals used to contain food.

It's been known for some time that the industry would face regulation, after it failed to meet the voluntary targets to cut landfill by ramping up the recovery and reuse of used packaging.

After meeting on Friday, federal, state and territory environment ministers provided the first details about what that will mean.

Manufacturers will have to comply with new design standards that will limit waste from the get-go.

Some of the new rules will deal with the inclusion of recycled content.

There will also be regulations to address the use of harmful chemicals in food packaging that can include the long-lived PFAS family — toxic substances that do not break down and build up in the food chain and human bodies.

"This is about designing out packaging waste from the start," the ministers said in a joint statement.

"More than 70 per cent of the environmental impacts of an item are locked in at the design stage, before anyone ever purchases a product and well before reuse or disposal is considered."

Avoiding REDcycle mistakes 

The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation recently admitted it would not meet four voluntary targets, including shifting to 100 per cent reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.

Jeff Angel from the Boomerang Alliance of community and environment groups has long argued for enforced change after 20 years of industry inaction.

"Mandatory standards for recycled content and targets are essential to create the economic rationale for new recycling and reprocessing plants," he said.

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