The APC Award Winners for the 2014 reporting period have been announced today, following the first of two awards ceremonies in Melbourne last night. Congratulations to these twenty-two signatories who achieved the highest result in their industry category.

The APC’s high performers are leading the way in packaging sustainability and innovation; they are a testament to the growing realisation that innovation and sustainability make good business sense, create opportunities for better employee and supply chain engagement, and can provide a competitive advantage. The APC is proud to acknowledge the work of these signatories and hopes that the broader APC signatory community will be able to benefit from their experience and achievements.

The success of the APC relies heavily on the actions and performance of all our signatories in demonstrating their commitment to environmental sustainability.  The APC is committed to continue working with and supporting business leaders to develop more sustainable packaging solutions, as we continue on our journey toward raising Australia’s packaging recycling rates, reducing packaging litter, and finding new ways to demonstrate product stewardship.

The next awards night will be held in Sydney on 23 July.

Find out who the winners are on the APC website

The 2014 annual reporting period is now complete, and signatories have been sent their report assessments.  If you have not received your assessment, it is available for download via the unique online reporting template link you used to access and complete your report.  It is good practice to update your action plan if you have achieved a low rating in the annual report.  We have a range of resources available to assist signatories in preparing and improving the content of their action plans, ensuring that they meet the goals of the Covenant, and can be more easily implemented and reported against.

An update regarding the 2015 annual reporting period will be sent to all signatories required to report later this year. Keep an eye on the newsletter and email correspondence for more information.  In the meantime, we recommend that you copy your targets into the data collection template, and record your actions against these during the course of the year. This template is designed to assist signatories with the data collation required for annual reporting, and is intended to improve efficiency, distribute accountability, and establish a sound reference for auditing purposes. This document is for internal use and is separate to the annual report template.

The independent verification audit for 2014 is now in process. Signatories were given until 7 July to submit their audit documentation, and the independent auditors are now conducting desktop reviews and on-site verification of evidence of annual reporting claims.

A random number of signatories are selected for audit each year, and part of the signatory obligations is to have documented evidence available for audit after annual reporting.  If you would like to find out more about the audit process and prepare for future audits please refer to 2014 Audit Ready Guide and the Evidence Requirements for Audit Guide.

Following the success of our workshop in Sydney in June, we are pleased to announce that the APC will be offering workshops for signatories in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne.

The aims of the ‘APC Updates’ workshops are to provide contact officers with free guidance on how to practically apply the APC KPIs and goals, implement and report against action plans, and better engage others within their organisation and along the supply chain.

These workshops will provide attendees with APC updates, an overview of action plan and reporting requirements; and a forum for signatories to network, problem-solve and discover opportunities.

We encourage signatories to send new contact officers and teams of people to these workshops. Signatories who have APC teams generally create more robust and effective plans and have greater success implementing programs and reporting outcomes.

The workshops will run as follows:

• Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre A2 Room 7 August 8am -12pm
• Adelaide (venue TBC) 17 September 8am - 12pm
• Perth Novotel Langley 23 September 1pm - 5pm
• Melbourne Monash Conference Centre 14 October 8am - 12pm

If you would like to attend the Brisbane workshop, please register online. Registrations for the other workshops will open soon, following invitations to signatories in respective states.

2014 Funding Round

The request for proposals has now closed. The process was a success and the APC would like to thank those who submitted proposals. In total we received over 60 applications with request for APC funding of $8.7million and a total projects value of $18.9million.

We are continuing to work with the applicants in developing applications and will provide more information as the funding round continues.

New Project: Jacobs Creek Visitor Centre and Barossa Bike Trail Recycling

This project involes the installation of waste and recycling bins wrapped with sustainability messages to inform and educate national and international visitors to the Barossa and improve recycling rates for the region. Visitors will be informed and encouraged to recycle and dispose of rubbish in the right way as they move along the Barossa Bike Trail. Messages will include the benefits of recycling, the impact of landfill waste (including greenhouse emissions), and the need to reduce contamination of the recycling stream.

Read more

New Project: Rottnest Island Glass Reprocessing - An Island Recycling Solultion

This project will develop and implement a glass waste reprocessing stream on Rottnest Island. The Island will procure a glass crusher to deal with the island glass waste (predominantly from tourism) which will be crushed and reused around the island. It will also implement a publicity campaign in the hotels of the island to advertise sustainable practices and encourage recycling behaviour.

Read more

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has prepared a proposal on a potential modification of the Food Safety Code. P1034 – Chemical Migration from Packaging into Food is intended to assess the public health and safety risk of chemicals which may migrate from packaging materials into food, and to identify and manage any risks.

An opportunity to comment will be available at a later date, which will be publicly notified. If you have any questions or comments about the proposal, please contact Dr Barbara Butow at barbara.butow@foodstandards.gov.au

SuperOffice are a stationery distributor whose most recent action plan was completed in 2011. They recently received their annual reporting assessment, and as a result of some of the assessor’s comments, they realised that they could more strongly align some of the actions in their plan with specific KPIs.

Based on the assessor’s comments, the SuperOffice APC team reviewed their action plan and reassessed how they are addressing each of the KPIs. They removed some actions which they have realised they can’t achieve, and replaced these with actions addressing opportunities they have identified since their plan was completed. They also moved some of their actions listed under KPI 1 to KPI 6, since they emphasise working with the supply chain. They then submited the updated plan to the APC, with a coversheet describing the changes and the reasons they have been made.