Kate Chaney and Sophie Scamps have launched a joint push to overhaul Australia’s packaging system and make plastic producers pay for the pollution and waste they create.
The two Teal MPs released a policy paper arguing that Australia’s current packaging regulation is failing and that responsibility for plastic waste has been unfairly placed on households and consumers. At present, the system relies heavily on voluntary business participation through the Australian Packaging Covenant scheme, alongside state and territory enforcement of the National Environmental Protection Measure.
The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, which administers the voluntary scheme, has already conceded it will fall short of its target to recycle 70 per cent of plastic packaging by 2025. Dr Scamps and Ms Chaney argue this shows the current co-regulatory model is not working and must be replaced with stronger national rules.
Their proposal calls for a nationally harmonised Extended Producer Responsibility scheme, or EPR, which would shift the burden from consumers to manufacturers. Under the model, producers would be responsible for the waste generated by their packaging, including through binding targets for waste reduction, reuse and recycled content. The policy paper also calls for a national producer-funded soft plastics scheme, a phase-out of harmful industrial chemicals in plastics, and increased funding for research and innovation.
The MPs want the reforms introduced under the existing Waste Reduction Act, meaning the federal government would not need to create entirely new powers. The scheme could be enforced by either a new national regulator or an existing body.
Kate Chaney strongly criticised the current system, saying voluntary corporate action had failed. She argued that households should no longer be left to shoulder the cost of dealing with packaging waste created by producers.
“For too long, households have been left to pay for a mess they didn’t make – $70 to $95 a year in rates and levies just to manage packaging waste,” she said.
“A polluter-pays scheme would cost the average household 25 cents a week and finally put the responsibility where it belongs.”
Dr Scamps said the push was also driven by growing concerns about the health impacts of plastics, especially microplastics and nanoplastics. Drawing on her background as a former GP and emergency doctor, she said she was “increasingly worried about the impact of plastics on the health of Australians”.
She pointed to emerging evidence linking microplastics to rising cancer rates among young people and called for a precautionary approach. “A precautionary approach means acting on the evidence we already have, not waiting until it’s too late,” she said.
Dr Scamps also warned that micro and nanoplastics are now contaminating the air people breathe, the water they drink and the food they eat, and are being found throughout human bodies and organs.
The push comes as a Greens Bill to establish an EPR scheme for packaging is before a Senate committee, with a report due on August 6. The federal government committed in 2022 to reforming the packaging sector, but negotiations with states and territories on a national EPR model are still ongoing.