Eco-friendly packaging is moving from a point of difference to a baseline expectation for Australian ecommerce, and the pressure is coming from three directions at once: regulation, customer expectation, and freight cost. This page looks at where that pressure is heading over the next few years and what it means for a business planning its packaging now rather than reacting later.
Regulation: the 2025 targets and what comes after
The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation’s 2025 National Packaging Targets set the current benchmark: 100% of packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable, 70% of plastic packaging recycled or composted, an average of 50% recycled content across packaging, and the phase-out of problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics. Behind that sits a shift toward an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) model, where the business that puts packaging on the market carries more of the responsibility for what happens to it afterwards, verified through tools such as APCO’s PREP (Packaging Recyclability Evaluation Portal) and disclosed to customers through the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL).
The practical effect for an ecommerce business is that vague sustainability claims are becoming a liability rather than a marketing asset. A label that has not been verified through PREP, or a claim that does not match what the ARL actually certifies, is now the kind of thing that gets called out, not rewarded.
Customer expectation: sustainability as a baseline, not a premium
Sustainability-conscious buying has moved from a niche segment to a mainstream expectation across most product categories. The businesses that get ahead of this are not the ones making the loudest claim, they are the ones whose packaging matches the claim exactly, printed correctly, verified, and consistent parcel to parcel.
Cost efficiency: waste reduction pays for itself
The businesses adopting eco-friendly packaging fastest are often doing it for the freight bill as much as the brand story. Right-sizing a parcel avoids paying dimensional-weight freight on empty space, and water activated paper tape removes a real cost most businesses do not track, cardboard rejected or downgraded at recycling because plastic tape was not removed first. Neither of these requires a sustainability budget; they are operational efficiency that happens to also be the more sustainable choice.
Scalability: building it in before volume forces the issue
It is far easier to specify a right-sized, recyclable format range at 50 orders a day than to redesign packaging at 5,000 orders a day while a warehouse is already running. Businesses planning for growth are increasingly locking in the packaging spec (format range, tape type, labelling standard) early, so scaling volume does not mean re-solving the same problem later under pressure.
What this means in practice
The direction is consistent: fewer generic materials, more verified claims, and packaging chosen for total cost (material plus freight plus disposal) rather than sticker price alone. The practical, stage-by-stage version of this is in the eco-friendly packaging checklist for ecommerce, covering primary packaging, void fill, the outer, sealing, labelling and returns.
How Carewell Group helps
Carewell Group is an Australian packaging manufacturer and supplier, certified to ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018, and an APCO member. We supply water activated tape, kraft and honeycomb mailers, right-sized cartons and food packaging as one supplier, and help businesses specify a format range that holds up as volume grows rather than needing a redesign later.
Carewell can meet all your packaging needs for your business. Talk to our expert and we will work to your required MOQ. Call +61 (02) 8760 1491 or request samples and a packaging review.
Frequently asked questions
What are Australia’s 2025 packaging targets?
100% of packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable, 70% of plastic packaging recycled or composted, an average 50% recycled content, and the phase-out of problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics, set by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation.
What is Extended Producer Responsibility?
A policy model where the business placing packaging on the market carries more responsibility for its recyclability and end-of-life outcome, rather than that responsibility sitting solely with councils and waste processors.
Does eco-friendly packaging actually save ecommerce businesses money?
Often yes, through right-sizing (avoiding dimensional-weight freight on oversized parcels) and paper tape (avoiding recycling rework and contamination), independent of any sustainability budget.
Sources
- Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, 2025 National Packaging Targets: apco.org.au
- Australasian Recycling Label and PREP: apco.org.au
Written by Alif Vasaya, digital and content strategy, Carewell Group. Carewell Group is an Australian packaging, food packaging, tape, industrial safety and 3PL supplier serving all of Australia. Last updated 17 September 2026.