The National Packaging Covenant is the self regulatory agreement for managing packaging waste in Australia. If affects all companies in the printing industry linked to the packaging chain.
It is a self-regulatory agreement between industries in the packaging chain and all spheres of government, based on the principles of shared responsibility through product stewardship, and applied throughout the packaging chain, from raw material suppliers to retailers, and the ultimate disposal of waste packaging.
The Covenant has a life-span of five years. It is not prescriptive, does not tell companies how to make their packaging or what type of packaging to use; nor does it implement regulation requiring businesses to take back materials recovered from kerbside recycling collection programs.
The goals of the Covenant are to minimise the environmental impacts of consumer packaging waste throughout the entire life cycle of the packaging product, close the recycling loop, develop economically viable and sustainable recycling collection systems and ensure that the voluntary process continues.
To participate in the Covenant, organisations become signatories to the Covenant, develop an Action Plan and contribute to the Industry Transitional Funding Arrangements.A National Environment Protection Measure on Used Packaging Materials (NEPM) has been approved, to ensure Covenant signatories are not disadvantaged in the market place.
Click here to find out what you need to do to become a signatory to the Covenant.
Click here to view Action Plans of signatory companies.
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