“The Albanese government’s failure to act on packaging reform as promised is a repudiation of the public’s support of recycling and concerns about the health and environmental impacts of plastic pollution,” [the director of the Boomerang Alliance, Jeff Angel, said].

“The scale and breadth of outrage across a broad set of stakeholders from green groups to industry to state governments is something I have not seen before.”

A suite of potential rules would have set design standards for packaging, for example by prohibiting use of certain chemicals, restricting unnecessary or excessive layers of packaging, or limiting the amount of empty space permitted within packaging.

Other potential changes could have required producers to be responsible for the packaging across its full life cycle – from the design stage to how the packaging is used and then disposed of.

The government’s decision to shelve its plans was due to its concern that any costs arising from changes could be passed on to consumers when they bought products such as groceries.