The Federal Government has said it supports all 26 recommendations of a review into the Product stewardship Act 2011 – including encouraging new schemes.
The review was conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment to ascertain if the Act “is enabling and can enable the benefits that product stewardship can deliver”.
Although many review submissions felt the increased use of co-regulatory and mandatory elements of the Act was merited, the report said the “existing framework (with its voluntary, co-regulatory and mandatory provisions) continues to support product stewardship nationally”.
To help improve the Act’s overall effectiveness and to enable product stewardship initiatives, the review has recommended a “a central clearinghouse be established to create efficiencies across multiple schemes, encourage the creation of new schemes and assist with compliance and enforcement”.
The review also included an independent evaluation of the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme.
This evaluation led to a recommendation that options be considered to broader the scheme’s focus “to include all electrical and electronic products (e-waste), so that all consumer products with a plug or battery can be recycled”.