7th Dec 2020, 8:52 PM – Senate Recycling and Waste Reduction Bill 2020 and others - in Committee - Mandate

The same number of senators voted for and against amendments introduced by Tasmanian Senator Peter Whish-Wilson (Greens), which means they didn't achieve a majority and so failed.

Senator Whish-Wilson explained that:

What we're doing in these amendments is very simple and straightforward. APCO, the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, are very confident they're going to meet the targets of their voluntary schemes. They've provided that evidence to two Senate inquiries. Their key stakeholders, the Food and Grocery Council, said they were going to meet their targets, Woolworths said they were going to meet their targets and Amcor said they were going to meet their targets. They're very confident. So we said: 'Great. If you can talk the talk then you won't mind walking the walk.' Tonight we're simply going to take what's already in existence and mandate by 2025 targets that are currently voluntary, so that when you walk into a supermarket 100 per cent of all packaging will be either recyclable or compostable, and 30 per cent of that packaging will be made from recycled product.