Cost of living pressures are real. But walking away from plastic packaging reform doesn’t remove the cost, it simply shifts it elsewhere.

We share the disappointment felt across Australia’s circular economy, recycling and waste sectors following the Commonwealth Government’s decision to abandon mandatory national packaging standards.

Australians use more than 1.3 million tonnes of plastic packaging each year, with more than 1 million tonnes ending up in landfill or as litter. The environmental costs of plastic packaging are projected to exceed $5 billion by 2050.

Without nationally regulated packaging reform, councils and ratepayers will continue carrying much of the financial burden of managing packaging waste, despite years of calls for producers to take greater responsibility for the packaging they place into Australian communities.

While the decision has been linked to cost-of-living concerns, local communities are already paying to manage much of this waste through council kerbside collections, landfills, recycling services and clean-up programs.

Claims that a mandatory scheme would significantly increase costs have also been challenged, with modelling indicating a packaging stewardship scheme could add as little as 20 to 30 cents to the average weekly grocery bill. This is small when compared to the costs communities already bear in managing packaging waste and its environmental impacts.

Importantly, this reform was never just about reducing waste. It was about creating the conditions for a stronger circular economy, supporting investment, creating jobs, recovering valuable materials and keeping resources in use for longer rather than sending them to landfill.

At a time when landfill capacity is under increasing pressure, delaying action only makes the challenge harder and more expensive to address.

We stand with many across the circular economy who have advocated for practical packaging reform that supports recycling, reduces waste and delivers fairer outcomes for communities.

When packaging costs aren’t paid by producers, they’re paid somewhere else. Too often, that means local communities.