The Boomerang Alliance has cautiously welcomed the progress report released at the recent National Soft Plastics Summit.
‘’The plans developed by the Food and Grocery Council are beginning to open the doors to a potential scheme for producer responsibility. An important advance are the promising results of trials using local government kerbside collections. However, a lot more will need to be put in place, if the soft plastics problem is to be solved,’’ said Jeff Angel, Director of the Alliance of 55 groups.
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‘’Manufacturers taking responsibility for recovery costs is an essential principle of a Product Stewardship Scheme. The next step is to recognise that manufacturer responsibility must be extended to covering the costs of packaging, through its entire lifecycle.’’
The container refund schemes now active across Australia, are examples where producer responsibility (the beverage industry) are responsible for the full costs associated with the recovery of their products. We need a similar approach, said Angel.
‘’Currently virtually all of the estimated 150,000 tonnes of household soft plastic waste generated in Australia is going to landfill, because there is no collection for recycling. Putting an effective collection and reprocessing service in place with mandatory targets for reduction, reuse, recycling and alternative materials, is urgently needed,’’ said Angel.