Environment Protection (Used Packaging Materials) Policy 2012 (SA)

South Australia Environment Protection (Used Packaging Materials) Policy 2012 under the Environment Protection Act 1993

Contents Part 1—Preliminary 1 Short title 2 Commencement 3 Interpretation 4 Purpose 5 Amendment of policy by Gazette notice Part 2—Obligations of brand owners 6 Application of Part 7 Brand owners must have action plans 8 Brand owners must keep records Part 3—Obligations of councils 9 Councils must report Legislative history

Part 1—Preliminary 1—Short title This policy may be cited as the Environment Protection (Used Packaging Materials) Policy 2012. 2—Commencement This policy will come into operation on a day to be fixed by the Governor by notice in the Gazette. 3—Interpretation (1) In this policy— Act means the Environment Protection Act 1993; Australian Packaging Covenant has the same meaning as in the National Environment Protection (Used Packaging Materials) Measure 2011 made by the National Environment Protection Council, as in force from time to time; brand owner—see subclause (2)(a); consumer packaging means packaging, comprised of any material, for the containment, protection, marketing or handling of retail consumer products, and includes in‑store packaging, plastic shopping bags and distribution packaging; council means a council constituted under the Local Government Act 1999; Covenant means the Australian Packaging Covenant; distribution packaging means packaging, comprised of any material, for the containment of multiple products (the same or mixed) intended for direct consumer purchase, and includes— (a) secondary packaging (for example, cardboard boxes and shrink film overwrap) for the containment of multiple consumer products; and (b) tertiary packaging (for example, pallet wrapping stretch film, shrink film overwrap and strapping) for the containment of multiples of secondary packaging; in‑store packaging does not include plastic shopping bags; landfill depot means a depot for the controlled disposal of waste to land; packaged retail consumer product means a retail consumer product packaged in consumer packaging; plastic shopping bag means a high density polyethylene bag supplied or intended to be supplied to a retail customer at the point of sale; resource recovery, in relation to waste, means— (a) reusing the waste; or (b) recycling the waste; or (c) recovering energy or other resources from the waste; responsibility for consumer packaging—see subclause (2)(b). (2) For the purposes of this policy— (a) each of the following persons will be taken to be a brand owner in the following circumstances: (i) in the case of a retail consumer product sold or distributed in Australia under a trademark (whether or not the trademark is registered)—the owner or licensee of the trademark; (ii) in the case of a retail consumer product sold or distributed in Australia under a franchise arrangement—the franchisee; (iii) in the case of a retail consumer product imported into Australia—the first person to sell the product in Australia; (iv) in the case of in‑store packaging supplied to a retailer—the supplier of the packaging to the retailer; (v) in the case of plastic shopping bags—the importer or manufacturer of such bags, the supplier of such bags to retailers and a retailer who supplies such bags to customers; and (b) each of the following brand owners will be taken to have responsibility for consumer packaging in the following circumstances: (i) a brand owner who is the owner or licensee of a trademark under which a retail consumer product is sold or distributed in Australia will be taken to have responsibility for any consumer packaging used for the product; (ii) a brand owner who is a franchisee under which a retail consumer product is sold or distributed in Australia will be taken to have responsibility for any consumer packaging used for the product; (iii) a brand owner who is the first person to sell a retail consumer product following its importation into Australia will be taken to have responsibility for any consumer packaging used for the product in Australia; (iv) a brand owner who is the supplier of in‑store packaging to a retailer will be taken to have responsibility for in‑store packaging so supplied; (v) a brand owner who is— (A) the importer or manufacturer of plastic shopping bags; or (B) the supplier of plastic shopping bags to retailers; or (C) a retailer who supplies plastic shopping bags to customers, will be taken to have responsibility for plastic shopping bags so imported, manufactured or supplied. (3) In this policy, the expression mandatory provision followed by a statement as to the category of offence is to be taken to signify that contravention of the provision at the foot of which the expression appears is, for the purposes of Part 5 of the Act, an offence of the category so stated. 4—Purpose The purpose of this policy is to implement the National Environment Protection (Used Packaging Materials) Measure 2011 made by the National Environment Protection Council. Note— The goal of the Measure is stated to be "to reduce environmental degradation arising from the disposal of used packaging and conserve virgin materials through the encouragement of waste avoidance and the re‑use and recycling of used packaging materials by supporting and complementing the voluntary strategies in the Covenant and by assisting the assessment of the performance of the Covenant" (clause 6 of the Measure). 5—Amendment of policy by Gazette notice (1) Pursuant to section 32(1)(c) of the Act, this policy may be amended by the Minister by notice in the Gazette so as to— (a) declare or modify, for the purposes of clause 6, the kind of packaging to which Part 2 will not apply; and (b) make other amendments as a consequence of an amendment referred to in paragraph (a). (2) An amendment referred to in subclause (1) is to be in the form of a textual amendment and, as such, a provision may be deleted from, substituted in or inserted into the policy and material may be deleted from, substituted in or inserted into a provision of the policy. (3) The Authority must, before making a recommendation to the Minister for an amendment referred to in subclause (1)(a) in relation to packaging, have regard to the following matters: (a) the practices of signatories to the Covenant; (b) whether packaging of that kind could be collected by a kerbside waste collection service for recyclable waste, a drop‑off or public place collection service or some other service for the collection of waste for resource recovery; (c) the state of technologies for resource recovery for packaging of that kind; (d) any competitive issues that may arise from including or excluding packaging of that kind from the application of this policy.