Viscount CEO David Smith explores the commercial case for reusable packaging, from product protection and return logistics to the role of RFID, automation and AI in improving supply-chain performance.

The Environment Ministers Meeting has put renewed focus on product stewardship. Brooke Donnelly considers why it matters to Australia’s economic resilience – and what government and industry must do to turn intent into practical outcomes.

The policy and economic cases for packaging reform have been made. Professor Edward Kosior argues the next step is to show politicians that continued inaction carries electoral consequences.

The voluntary administration of RPA has rightly intensified calls for national packaging reform, but it highlights our failure to build complete recovery systems around recycling technology, writes Richard Fine.

With national packaging reform delayed once again, Brooke Donnelly argues industry and government must work together on practical, commercially viable solutions that deliver measurable outcomes.

The Government funded plastic recycling plants then walked away from laws needed to keep them alive, with taxpayer-funded recycling plants collapsing while plastic packaging waste is piling up in landfill. Pact Group chair Raphael Geminder weighs in.

Around the world, governments are steadily repositioning waste and resource recovery as an essential part of industrial policy, economic resilience and sovereign capability, while Australia, meanwhile, continues to go in circles, writes Gayle Sloane, CEO of WMRR.

In the drive to make flexible packaging more sustainable, technical performance cannot become an afterthought. Flexible packaging specialist Joe Foster argues that fitness for purpose must remain the starting point.

As Europe’s PPWR comes into effect this week, Australia’s packaging sector is still waiting for the regulatory certainty needed to turn circularity commitments into investment. Drawing on PKN’s coverage, Lindy Hughson examines the industry’s repeated call for clarity, consistency and firm policy direction.

Packaging disruptions are now structural. And the businesses that treat them as one-off events are setting themselves up for margin erosion and supply gaps they won't see coming, writes Chris Gardner, of Proxima Australia.

Australia has made progress on packaging design, but improving recyclability alone will not keep valuable materials out of landfill. Real progress depends on aligning design, collection, processing and end markets, writes Jano Crema of Huhtamaki.

For a long time, detailed product traceability was someone else's problem, a pharmaceutical concern, a regulated food issue. That's now changed. George Pecchiar, executive director CTS at Peacock Bros, argues 2D barcodes are bringing it into the mainstream.

Packaging reform has been on and off Australia's policy agenda for more than two decades. Industry has talked, reviewed, trialled, consulted, and debated. Now, says Elliot Costello, we have a narrow window in which to get it right – with a single, harmonised system for the whole country.

Proposed federal plans to introduce a levy on plastic packaging and mandate minimum recycled content could mark a turning point for Australia’s packaging industry, as policymakers respond to global oil volatility and growing pressure to reduce reliance on imported materials, says Jet Technologies GM Daniel Malki.

Rising resin costs and geopolitical shocks are exposing supply chain vulnerability. Raphael Geminder calls for mandated recycled content and EPR to anchor Australia’s packaging supply in local capability.

As Australia pursues packaging reform, the role packaging plays in protecting food supply chains cannot be overlooked. Tetra Pak’s Flavia Vaz argues that circularity policy and food security strategy must be aligned – not treated as separate agendas.