Australia needs to think outside the box on packaging

Almost half of Australia's annual six million tonnes of packaging ends up in landfill. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS)

A proposed national packaging scheme could force manufacturers to start thinking outside the box on household waste and carbon emissions.

Australia uses more than six million tonnes of packaging every year at a rough cost of $15 billion, mostly paid for by consumers and with almost half ending up in landfill.