The limits of voluntary measures: Packaging the plastic pollution problem in Australia

Abstract

The massive global growth in the production, use, and disposal of plastic materials has generated a pollution crisis in many countries. In Australia, debates about how to address this multi-faceted challenge have lacked the political urgency necessary for adopting strong reform measures. Consistent with the early stages of other sustainability debates, the industrial producers and distributors of plastic materials have been successful in prioritising voluntary measures, such as recycling materials and local authority collection schemes, to mitigate the problem, instead of agreeing to implement enforceable reduction targets. This paper examines Australian measures to manage plastic waste with a focus on how particular policy instruments were favoured and endured and how a greater focus on the full range of policy instruments—market based, regulatory, and voluntary—could generate more effective solutions.

Points for practitioners

• Choice of effective policy instruments is crucial for tackling sustainability problems.
• Policy instruments employed by Australian governments to manage plastic waste have been ineffective.
• Moreover, policy settings do not support effective co-ordination between key stakeholders for the reduction of plastic pollution.
• Policy advisors should recognise the limits of voluntary approaches and market-based mechanisms, and consider introducing clear and mandatory pathways to achieve policy targets.