On 11 August 2025, the ACCC issued its draft determination and interim authorisation decision in relation to SPSA’s proposed product stewardship scheme for soft plastics, conditionally approving the proposed conduct for 8 years. You can download a summary of our application here:

Proposed final authorisation activities (for the full eight-year term) include:

1.                  SPSA setting and collecting, and the Scheme Participants agreeing to pay, the Scheme Levy and Minimum Levy, which may be passed on by a Scheme Participant as part of their price and may be eco-modulated in the future;

2.                  SPSA developing, setting and imposing membership terms and conditions and Scheme Participants agreeing to these terms and conditions;

3.                  Agreements between SPSA and each of Coles, Woolworths and ALDI (being members of the Taskforce) (as required) to allow SPSA to take over and expand on the instore collection program being run by the members of the Taskforce including transferring arrangements with service providers to SPSA;

4.                  The sharing of operational information and data between SPSA and Coles, Woolworths and ALDI (being the members of the Taskforce) (as required) to facilitate SPSA’s operations, including to transfer the arrangements for the Taskforce instore collection program run by Coles, Woolworths and ALDI to SPSA;

5.                  SPSA arranging for and acquiring services to implement and operate the Scheme, including by entering into and giving effect to contracts with third parties for the collection, transport, sortation, storage, processing and recycling of used soft plastics and third-party services for invoicing, collecting and managing and auditing packaging data;

6.                  SPSA and Scheme Participants discussing and agreeing communications to consumers and the public in relation to the Scheme, including marketing and educational activities; and

7.                  SPSA and APCO sharing market analysis, modelling, research and packaging placed on market data and agreeing communications to APCO members for the purpose of the Scheme.

The ACCC imposed two conditions:

1.                  No restriction on processing businesses to supply: SPSA must not restrict any recycling processor from supplying services to another customer, noting SPSA has no intention to enter into exclusive arrangements with processors.

2.                  Reporting requirement: SPSA must publish an annual report on key scheme outcomes. These contained no concerning elements in addition to planned SPSA reporting.