Defining product stewardship and sustainability in the Australian packaging industry

The packaging industry has been under pressure for more than 20 years to reduce the environmental impacts of its products. Specific concerns about packaging are rarely articulated beyond those of waste and litter, but seem to step from deeper unease within elements of the community about the impacts of industrial development on the environment. This paper provides an introduction to the discourse on packaging and the environment, product stewardship and sustainability, and presents the results of a stakeholder survey undertaken in Australia in 2003. The purpose of the survey was to document the views of stakeholders involved in shaping the discourse on the environmental impacts and management of packaging. The survey revealed many areas of agreement, for example on the definition of 'product stewardship' as a form of 'shared responsibility' between organisations within the packaging supply chain.