The APC is the major sponsor of Planet Ark's 2014 National Recycling Week and we're encouraging all of our signatories to get on board and increase recycling in the workplace.

To help you get your workplace involved in recycling programs and other sustainability initiatives, together with Planet Ark, we've put together an APC NRW Wrap Up activity guide.

We encourage all signatories to embrace the activities in this guide and to use National Recycling Week as an opportunity to elevate the importance of recycling within your business.

We'd also encourage you to share Planet Ark's 7 Secrets of Successful Recyclers report with your staff to help them improve their recycling habits.

Signatories reporting in 2015 should now have received their unique link to their reporting template. If you have not received a link, you may need to update your contact details with the APC – please email apc@packagingcovenant.org.au to do so. You may also not need to report in 2015 – signatories who did not have an accepted action plan in place as of April 30 2014 are not required to report in 2015.

In October, the APC presented a series of three workshops to nearly one hundred signatories. These workshops focussed on providing 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 to meet their APC goals. With a strong focus on peer learning, signatories held robust discussions sharing their experiences, and reported feeling more able to progress their APC program.

For the second year the APC supported the Cormack Innovation Awards by sponsoring the ‘APC Sustainability Award.’ This year’s winner, Marcus Ming Lee, not only sought to maximise the environmental performance of his packaging design, but also used innovation to minimise product waste.

The APC considers its involvement in the awards as a great opportunity to instil the importance of sustainability in the minds of up-and-coming designers. We look forward to continuing to educate and promote sustainable packaging through the 2015 Cormack Innovation Awards

The Australian Packaging Covenant is partnering with Keep New South Wales Beautiful (KNSWB) in its mission to raise awareness and public support to keep litter out of our communities and public spaces.

Last week APC staff took the KNSWB Pledge to keep NSW beautiful by not littering and we are encouraging our NSW signatories to do the same.

You can get involved by:

• Taking the pledge online as an individual at www.takethepledge.com.au
• Encouraging staff members to personally take the pledge by emailing them about the program
• Promoting your organisation’s involvement via your website and by posting on social media channels. One way to do this might be to take a photo/s of staff ‘Taking the Pledge’ and share including the hashtag #HeyTosser
• Hold a Take the Pledge event in a local community space or at your offices: for more information and support with holding an event email media@knswb.org.au

We’d love to hear whether you took the pledge and how many people from your organisation got involved. Let us know on social media or by email to apc@packagingcovenant.org.au by 30 November and you will go into the draw to win a dinner for two at ARIA Restaurant Sydney.