ATTACHMENT H
GLOSSARY
PACKAGING DEFINITIONS
Beverage containers: Containers manufactured from rigid or flexible packaging materials including
glass, plastics, steel, aluminium and paper/cardboard to carry liquids for human consumption.
Sealed beverage containers refers to beverage containers brought to market pre-filled and sealed.
Consumer Packaging: All packaging products made of any material or combination of materials, for
the containment, protection, marketing and handling of consumer products throughout the supply
chain. This includes distribution packaging and packaging used by businesses as consumers.
Distribution packaging: Packaging that contains multiple units of consumer product (the same or
mixed product). This includes:
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Secondary packaging used to secure or unitise multiples of consumer product, for example,
cardboard box, shippers, or shrink film overwrap.
Tertiary packaging used to secure or bundle multiples of secondary packaging, for example,
pallets, pallet wrapping, stretch film, shrink film and strapping.
Flexible packaging: Refers to non-rigid packaging. The majority of flexible packaging is
paper/cardboard, flexible plastics and plastic film. Both are used extensively in grouped packaging
and transport packaging.
Grouped packaging: Packaging which constitutes, at the point of purchase, a grouping of a certain
number of sales units, whether the latter is sold as such to the final user or whether it serves only as
a means to replenish the shelves at the point of sale. Grouped packaging can be removed from the
product without affecting the characteristics of the product. Grouped packaging is sometimes
referred to as secondary or distribution packaging.
Non-beverage containers: Containers used for grocery products such as foods, household and
commercial liquids and powders. Common material types include glass, steel and plastic.
Packaging: Packaging protects and preserves raw materials and products as they move through
supply chains to consumers. The roles of packaging include protecting and maintaining the integrity
of products, promoting products, providing consumer information on usage, health, safety and
disposal, allowing for unitisation or grouping of products for wholesale distribution and supporting
efficient handling of products throughout the supply chain.
Rigid packaging: Packaging made from non-flexible materials such as glass, metal or rigid plastic.
Sales packaging: See consumer packaging.
Sealed beverage containers: Beverage containers that are brought to market pre-filled and sealed,
for example wine, beer, milk and soft drink. Does not include takeaway cups, which are provided
unsealed and filled with their contents at the point of sale.
Secondary packaging: See distribution packaging and grouped packaging.
Shelf ready packaging: Products delivered in packaging that can go straight on display for sale
without unpacking or repacking.
Takeaway cups: Single-use takeaway cups, which may or may not be offered with lids, such as those
used to transport coffee, soft drinks and milkshakes away from home.
Transport packaging: Transport packaging is designed to facilitate handling and transport of a
number of sales units in unitised or grouped packaging, in order to maintain unit integrity and
prevent physical damage. Transport packaging does not include road, rail, ship and air containers but
can include pallets. Transport packaging is also referred to as tertiary packaging or distribution
packaging.
Used / Waste Packaging: Packaging that has been used or consumed and can no longer be used for.
This packaging may then be recovered for recycling or reuse.
OTHER DEFINITIONS
Advance disposal fee (ADF): Government excise imposed on industry to fund initiatives aimed at
increasing packaging recovery and recycling, and reducing packaging litter.
Alternative Waste Technology (AWT): Refers to methods of waste management and disposal that
offer a more sustainable solution than landfill, thus reducing environmental impact. AWT can include
mechanical separation methods, biological processes, thermal technologies, mechanical biological
treatment and methods for converting waste to energy.
At-home consumption: Consumption that occurs in the household, including of packaging and
packaged consumer goods. It excludes consumption away from home in offices, the C&I sector,
hospitality venues, institutions, shopping centres and public places.
Australian Packaging Covenant: The Australian Packaging Covenant, formerly the National
Packaging Covenant, is the voluntary component of a co-regulatory arrangement for managing the
environmental impacts of consumer packaging in Australia. Brand owners can choose to join the
Covenant or comply with the relevant state based National Environmental Protection (Packaging
Materials) Measure (NEPM).
Away-from-home consumption: Consumption that occurs in offices, the C&I sector, hospitality
venues, institutions, shopping centres and public places. It includes packaged consumer goods and
associated distribution packaging. It does not include at-home consumption. For comparison see
public places.
Away-from-home recycling: Using materials/products recovered from offices, the C&I sector,
hospitality venues, institutions, shopping centres and public places as raw materials to produce
other products. It does not include kerbside recycling.
Base case: The 'business as usual' scenario, including current arrangements, that occurs in the
absence of any further government intervention.
Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR): One of the key outputs of a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), used to compare
the net benefit to society and the net cost to society of a particular option, relative to the base case.
The BCR is measured as the ratio of the present value (PV) of incremental benefits relative to the
base case over the evaluation period to the present value of incremental costs over the evaluation
period.
Brand owner: The owner or licensee of a trade mark under which consumer product is first sold or
otherwise distributed in Australia (often with branded packaging). The brand owner may also be the
franchisee of a business arrangement which allows an individual, partnership or company to operate
under the name of an already-established business. In respect to in-store packaging, the brand
owner may be the supplier of the packaging to the store1. The brand owner does not usually
manufacture the packaging, but may commission branded packaging for its products. See also
packaged goods industry.
Commercial and Industrial (C&I) waste: Waste produced by commercial and industrial businesses
and enterprises, government agencies and institutions.
Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS): A document that details a regulation impact
assessment process for consultation with stakeholders. A Consultation RIS is generally followed by a
Decision RIS. A Consultation RIS involves identifying the problems requiring government
intervention, the proposed options for addressing the problems, the impacts of different options to
address the problems and consultation with stakeholders.
Consumer: Someone that consumes, in this context packaging or a packaged product, who may be
an individual or a business.
Consumer product: A product intended for sale to a consumer, which is packaged. This consumer
may be an individual who obtains the product through retail sale for consumption, or a business
who obtains the product for consumption through means such as wholesale.
Container deposit legislation (CDL): See Container deposit scheme.
Container deposit scheme (CDS): A deposit is levied on the sale of a product sold in a container. The
deposit is refunded to the consumer after the product has been used and when the container is
returned to a designated public redemption point. CDSs are most often confined to beverage
containers, and some CDSs, such as that operating in South Australia, exclude (plain) milk and wine
containers. A CDS is also known as container deposit legislation (CDL) as it operates under
legislation.
Co-regulatory arrangement (CA): A product stewardship organisation (PSO) established by industry
members to achieve product stewardship outcomes set in regulations on their behalf. In relation to
this RIS, the regulations would be either under the co-regulatory provisions of the Product
Stewardship Act 2011 or the National Environment Protection (Used Packaging Materials)
Measure 2011 (NEPM).
1
Source: Australian Packaging Covenant, as amended 10 October 2010.
Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA): An analytical tool that compares the impacts of proposed options for
government intervention to address identified problems, relative to a 'business as usual' scenario
(the base case). Economic costs and benefits are examined from the perspective of the community
as a whole to help identify the proposal with the highest net benefit. Where possible, these costs
and benefits are monetised and discounted to convert them to their Net Present Value (NPV) for
comparative purposes in today’s dollars. Also known as an economic analysis as it assesses effects
on the economy as a whole only.
Decision Regulation Impact Statement (RIS): A document that details the findings of a regulation
impact assessment process for decision-makers. It is generally preceded by a Consultation RIS and
stakeholder consultation. A Decision RIS draws conclusions on whether regulation is necessary, and
if so, what the most efficient and effective regulatory approach might be, taking into account the
outcomes of consultation and analysis of the costs and benefits of the options (a CBA).
Distributional impact analysis: Also known as a financial analysis.
Economic analysis: See Cost-Benefit Analysis.
Free rider: An individual or company who benefits from a good or a service without paying for it. In
the context of packaging policy options, this usually refers to companies and groups that, under the
principles of product stewardship, should be held accountable for the environmental impacts of
packaging, but do not contribute to programs and initiatives designed to address the environmental
impacts of packaging.
Financial analysis: See distributional impact analysis.
Hub and spoke: A hub and spoke-based system is one that operates with a large centre, which leads
the system (the hub), and a series of smaller centres (the spokes) which operate parts of the system
under the leadership of the hub. This is the structure of the recycling facilities in the proposed
Boomerang Alliance CDS, as it will be centrally-managed by a CDS coordinator with the spokes
represented by a network of RVMs for individual consumer redemptions and hubs for commercialscale redemptions.
Importer: In the case of an imported product, the first person to sell that product in Australia.
Incremental benefits and costs: In a Cost-Benefit Analysis, the benefits and costs of the options to
address identified problems are measured on an incremental basis relative to the 'business as usual'
scenario (the base case). That is, they are costs and benefits compared to the base case rather than
separate totals.
Industry Association: An organisation that coordinates and represents the views of members, who
may be organisations or businesses from several industries or sectors, although generally fewer than
those represented by an umbrella organisation. For example, the Australian Food and Grocery
Council.
Kerbside recovery: Roadside collection of domestic solid waste. Waste may be sorted for recycling
or otherwise prior to collection.
Kerbside recycling: Using materials and products recovered from roadside collections as raw
materials to produce other products.
Liable party: The person or business who would become responsible under regulations to meet a
product stewardship outcome or make a financial contribution to a product stewardship scheme.
Litter: The intentional or unintentional discard of end-of-life packaging, products or other items into
the environment, for example, due to over-full receptacles or uncovered bins and vehicle loads.
Marine debris: The pollution of the marine environment by human generated objects, such as litter.
This also occurs in freshwater waterways.
Material Recovery Facility (MRF): Sometimes referred to as a Materials Reclamation Facility. A MRF
is a specialised (mechanical) plant that receives and separates recovered materials into recyclable
and non-recyclable streams, and prepares recyclable materials for marketing to end-user
manufacturers for reprocessing. A MRF can also employ people to assist with sorting where
necessary, known as manual or hand sorting.
Municipal waste: Domestic waste from households, usually disposed of via roadside collection.
National Environment Protection Measure (NEPM): Legislative instruments designed to improve
national consistency in environmental protection outcomes. Measures are made under the National
Environment Protection Council (NEPC) Act by Commonwealth, state and territory environment
ministers.
National Environment Protection (Used Packaging Materials) Measure 2011 (NEPM): A regulatory
safety net designed to prevent industries in the packaging supply chain that choose not to
participate in the Australian Packaging Covenant from gaining a competitive advantage. The NEPM
encourages packaging manufacturers and brand owners to join the voluntary APC arrangement, as
otherwise they would be required to achieve equivalent outcomes on their own.
National Packaging Covenant: See Australian Packaging Covenant.
National Waste Policy: The National Waste Policy was agreed to by all Australian environment
ministers in November 2009 and endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in
October 2010. The policy sets out a coherent approach to Australia’s waste management and
resource recovery up to 2020.
Net Present Value (NPV): One of the key outputs of a Cost-Benefit Analysis, used to determine the
overall net benefit or cost to society of a particular option. The NPV is measured as the difference
between the Present Value (PV) of the incremental benefits (relative to the base case) over the
evaluation period and the present value of the incremental costs.
Packaged good / product: See consumer product.
Packaged goods industry/ies: Refers to brand owners who do not manufacture packaging but
commission packaging for their products. Prominent packaging brand owners include the food and
beverage industry and the retail industry.
Packaging industry: Refers to businesses that are involved in creating, manufacturing or supplying
consumer packaging. As distinguished from packaged goods industry/ies and brand owners.
Packaging supply chain: All of the organisations that participate in creating, distributing and selling
consumer packaging and/or products. These include but are not limited to suppliers of raw materials
for consumer packaging, manufacturers of consumer packaging, suppliers/distributors of consumer
packaging, manufacturers of consumer products, fillers of consumer packaging, brand owners of
consumer products, wholesalers/distributors of consumer products and retailers of consumer
products2.
Product Stewardship: The concept of shared responsibility for product impacts by all sectors
involved in the manufacture, distribution, use and disposal of consumer products.
Product Stewardship Act 2011: This legislation provides a framework to effectively manage the
environmental, health and safety impacts of products and materials during and at end of life, and in
particular those impacts associated with the disposal of products and materials. The framework
includes voluntary, co-regulatory and mandatory product stewardship provisions. The legislation
delivers on a key commitment by the Australian Government under the National Waste Policy.
Product Stewardship Organisation (PSO): An organisation established by industry participants, some
of whom may be competitors, to deliver a product stewardship function for products or materials on
their collective behalf.
Product Stewardship Scheme: A product stewardship scheme tends to be designed around the idea
that producers of consumer products should bear responsibility for their management at end of life.
As an example, for packaging this could involve industry establishing a Product Stewardship
Organisation to operate the scheme and charging membership fees (similar to an ADF
arrangement), which are used to fund initiatives aimed at increasing packaging recovery and
recycling and reducing packaging litter.
Public places: A subset of away-from-home consumption. Public places are deemed to include ‘local
government area public places’ (such as streets, highways and roadside verges and public recreation
reserves, beaches, parks and gardens) and ‘commercial public places’ (such as shopping centres and
hotels, bars and restaurants and sporting and event venues). This term does not include
privately-owned, restricted access locations such as businesses and workplaces and other parts of
the C&I sector.
Recovery: Collection of solid waste that can then be sorted and processed for recycling.
Recyclate: Material that has been collected, sorted and prepared (for example by removing
contaminants) for recycling, which is incorporation into a new product (not necessarily packaging).
Recycling: Using recovered products and materials as raw materials to produce another product.
The recovered material is called recyclate.
Reprocessing: See recycling.
2
Source: Australian Packaging Covenant, as amended 10 October 2010.
Resource recovery: See recovery.
Retail: The sale of commodities to household or individual end-consumers, usually in small
quantities (distinguished from wholesale).
Reuse: To use products and materials again in their original state without reprocessing or
remanufacture.
Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs): RVMs are used in CDSs as automated deposit points for
beverage containers. Containers are inserted into the RVM and then scanned, sorted by material
type and processed into separate bins (glass bottles and aluminium cans are crushed, plastic bottles
are shredded) to minimise storage requirements.
Super-collectors: Refers to an organisation that monitors performance and manages the flow of
money between liable parties and depots under the South Australian container deposit scheme.
Umbrella organisation: A high level organisation that coordinates the views of members, who may
be organisations or businesses from several industries or sectors. For example, the
Australian Industry Group.
Use-value: Refers to the emotional or social payoff associated with incurring cost or inconvenience
in order to perform recycling actions.
Wholesale: The sale of commodities or products in large quantities, to retailers, other businesses or
wholesale merchants, rather than to end-consumers directly (distinguished from retail).
Willingness to Pay: Refers to the intrinsic value of knowing that other people are recycling.