The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) has become the fifth product stewardship arrangement to receive Commonwealth accreditation.
The accreditation signifies APCO’s scheme has been verified for environmental and human health outcomes and means APCO and its members can use the federal government’s official product stewardship logo.
Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environment Management Trevor Evans said the accreditation recognised APCO’s “hard work in helping industry to take responsibility for the environmentally sound management of products and packaging materials over their whole lifecycle”.
“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,” he said.
The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) advocates for strengthened product stewardship to increase recycling and reduce the volume of waste – and for such schemes to be mandatory for all difficult-to-recycle products.
ALGA also sits on the APCO Government Officials Group.