The Australian Government today gave the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) its
tick of approval as an accredited national product stewardship scheme working to ensure that
Australia's packaging can be recycled, reused and kept out of landfill.
Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environment Management, Trevor Evans said that APCO
is developing a circular economy for packaging in Australia, so that packaging is more sustainably
designed and easier to reuse, recycle or be remade for use in another product.
"Achieving Australian Government accreditation signals that the Government strongly backs APCO's
work with business to increase the circularity of packaging and achieve the ambitious 2025 National
Packaging Targets," Assistant Minister Evans said.
"APCO is working at pace with industry to achieve the national target of 100 per cent of Australia's
packaging being reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. APCO is also working with its
members and industry partners to establish programs to recover and recycle packaging materials,
like plant pots, that cannot be recycled through our kerbside bins.
"Government accreditation recognises APCO's hard work in helping industry to step up and take
responsibility for the environmentally sound management of products and packaging materials over
their whole lifecycle, including at disposal.
"As part of the new accreditation, the Minister for the Environment can now call out either
individual companies or the entire packaging industry to meet their obligations and take
responsibility for the environmental impacts of packaging.
"Today's announcement puts free-riders on notice, and I have written to a number of eligible
businesses to encourage them to join APCO and to play their part in meeting the 2025 National
Packaging Targets," said Assistant Minister Evans.
"As an accredited product stewardship arrangement, APCO and its members can now also use the
Australian Government's official product stewardship logo which demonstrates to both businesses
and consumers that it has the Government's stamp of approval."
APCO is the fifth national product stewardship scheme to be accredited by the Federal Government.
