“We can help to educate, not only the government,” she said. “What is really required, not only from the food industry, is [harmonisation from] retailers, we need markets on board, we need whole players in this value chain really committed to making it work. We will make mistakes, but we need to learn because the train is getting out.”

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Plibersek told industry leaders, including executive chairman of Visy Industries, Anthony Pratt, that the government was keen to work with industry and other levels of government to reach ambitious recycling targets, but if they were not met, the government would step in and regulate to force change.

Rather than rising to reach a target of 70 per cent by 2025, recycling rates have been stuck around 16 per cent for the past four years. Plibersek added the government will work on those steps with the industry, but is prepared to regulate if they do not work.

She added the federal government can help other levels of government “harmonise” the collection of waste across jurisdictions, particularly in co-ordinating container deposit schemes and kerbside waste collection. Plibersek added the government would also crack down on greenwashing.

Arnott’s chief executive officer George Zoghbi suggested that simplification of the kerbside waste collection was needed. This could include colour-coding packaging with a red, green or yellow dot to represent the bin it needed to be disposed of in.

The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Visy hosted the Recycling Roundtable on Friday, featuring key industry leaders and the Minister for the Environment, Tanya Plibersek.

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