Your involvement as a signatory to the APC helps demonstrate to your staff, customers and clients the actions your business is taking to contribute to environmental sustainability.

The APC has developed a new video which helps explain the APC, and what is being achieved through the work of signatories, in a quick and engaging format.

Watch the APC Video on You Tube

Watch the APC Video via the APC website

Please share the video internally, particularly with your marketing and public relations teams. We encourage signatories to display the APC logo, along with your actions plans and annual reports on your company website. You can also share the video via your product or company Facebook page and Twitter account.

If you're also interested in streaming the video via your website, or through your companies social media channels, along with information about your involvement in the APC please contact comms@packagingcovenant.org.au.

Many thanks to all those who completed their 2013 annual reports on time.  There were a total of 615 signatories reporting this year, of which 589 were brand owners.  Signatories should now have received an assessed report with a rating out of five.  The reports will be uploaded to our website (without ratings) and we encourage signatories to also upload completed annual reports with company branding to their own websites.

We will be providing further information regarding how the broader signatory base has performed once any appeals received have been finalised and scores adjusted appropriately.  Early results indicate an increase in performance across the signatory base. 

Those who did not submit their annual reports prior to the deadline were referred to the jurisdictions on 3 June 2013.

The APC is rewarding signatories that have performed ‘above and beyond’ as part of the annual reporting. 

These signatories, who achieved the highest overall scores in their category, will be awarded a streamlined packaging lifecycle assessment and presented with a framed award at two breakfast events we will be holding in late August.

The success of the APC is due to the hard work of all our signatories in demonstrating their commitment to environmental sustainability.

Congratulations to the high achievers.

Find out who the high performers are on the APC website

As in 2012, a sample of signatories’ annual reports will be selected for a verification audit in 2013.  Commencing mid-July, companies selected will be required to provide evidence within a set period supporting the claims made in their annual reports. 

Should your organisation be selected for this audit, please ensure that you provide the requested documentation within this timeframe in order to fulfil your obligations as a compliant signatory.

Companies that fail to do so may be deemed non-compliant, however beforehand we will be working closely with those signatories to address any corrective actions required.

Please see the Audit Ready Guide 2013 for more information.

We have continued with our Action Plan Development Workshop series, delivering a revised format to nearly 40 new signatories across two workshops in June.  Signatories that attend these workshops receive free guidance and support from experts regarding how to develop action plans to ensure they are easier to implement and report against, and deliver measurable results. 

We will continue to hold these workshops for signatories based on demand.  If you are interested in attending future workshops or would like to register your interest in developing an existing action plan please contact Natalie Ryan.

Lord Howe Island Glass Project complete

The Lord Howe Island Board in conjunction with the National Packaging Covenant Industry Association (NPCIA) and the New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage have successfully completed a project to install a replacement glass crusher to establish a local glass cullet recycling and reuse processing scheme for civil construction on the Island.

The results are expected to save the community approximately $7,000 per annum in waste disposal costs per year, in addition to saving local businesses and residents the cost of importing construction aggregate that the glass cullet replicates saving approximately $25,000 per annum.

Read more about the project

This year the APC is sponsoring a Sustainability Award as part of the Australian Packaging Design Awards.  All signatories who enter the awards may be eligible to win the overall Sustainability Award, which will require entries to demonstrate that the principles of the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines have been applied as part of the packaging development.

The call is out for companies to enter their creative packaging solutions across the following categories:

• Food
• Beverage
• Household & Office
• Health & Beauty
• Industrial
• Seasonal & Promotional

The 5 judging criteria that each category will be assessed against include one for environment and sustainability. Any entry can win the sustainability award.

Further information on the criteria, key dates, condition of entry, previous winners, plus much more is available on the Packaging Council of Australia’s website www.pca.org.au/awards2013/apda.

To ensure that up and coming designers are able to assess packaging designs against the principles of the SPG, the APC is also supporting Cormack in their annual Innovation Awards for students at UTS, UNSW and UWS.  The APC Sustainability Award will be awarded in late October to the finalist whose design best addresses the SPG.

Tune in to future e-news articles to see the finalists and details of the APC Sustainability Award winner.