Bill
Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme for Packaging (No Time to Waste) Bill 2026
before parliament, as at 2026-08-13.
- Sponsor
- Whish-Wilson
- Portfolio
- Not recorded
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2026-05-13
- second reading — 2026-05-13
- second reading — 2026-08-13
Divisions
No divisions recorded. Most questions are decided on the voices; this does not establish that a bill was unopposed.
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2026-05-13.
This bill would create a single national system requiring packaging businesses to manage their products after consumer use.
The Environment Minister would have three months after royal assent to set up the scheme through rules under the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020, with mandatory targets and eco-design standards.
The first review of the scheme's performance must be completed within three years of its start, with later reviews every five years.
- Producers, importers and distributors of packaging would be legally obliged to manage the end-of-life handling of their packaging.
- Australia's National Packaging Targets would become mandatory and legally binding.
- The scheme would require strict eco-design standards and minimum recycled content for packaging.
- The Minister must make rules to establish the EPR scheme within three months of royal assent.
- The first periodic review of the scheme must be done before three years after it takes effect, and later reviews before five years after the previous review.
- Financial incentives to reduce packaging under the scheme must not amount to taxation.
Producers, importers and distributors of packaging in Australia, as well as the Minister for the Environment and the recycling industry.
Sources
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