On behalf of the Council and staff of the Australian Packaging Covenant, we wish you all the best for the festive season.

We look forward to working with all of our signatories and stakeholders in 2013.

Please note there will be no January edition of the newsletter.

Action Plan Development Workshops

The APC, with Banarra Consulting, has recently co-delivered 13 action plan development workshops in Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane.  Delivered to 255 attendees, each workshop provided signatories with an improved understanding of what is required to develop, revise and action a ‘beyond compliance’ APC action plan as well as affording the opportunity to discuss and with like-minded businesses.

For those signatories that were unable to attend the workshops do not despair.  We have made the resources presented available on our website.  In addition, a range of other relevant resources will be developed in the coming months. 

We will be looking to run future workshops targeting newly signed companies from the first quarter 2013. Please contact Natalie Ryan if you would like to register your interest.

Annual Reporting in 2013

For those who may have missed the note in our last e-news, access to the annual reporting template will be made available to all signatories in early February.

To improve reporting efficiencies it may be beneficial to begin collating data relevant to progress against the actions you have committed to implementing in the lead up to February.  Make sure your organisation is audit ready; read the APC’s audit ready guide (available in the resources section of our website) for further information.

The APC will be developing and releasing a range of further guides and resources in the lead up to the reporting period to assist all signatories.

Crown Melbourne Public Place Recycling

This project entailed the purchase and installation of a public recycling system for the Crown Entertainment Complex. Previously the public entertainment, retail and external spaces consisted only of general waste receptacles. This project provided commingle recycling to 90% of all public areas.

The project final report is now available online.

Installation of Recycling Bins in Ararat CBD

To reduce waste going to landfill and encourage recycling in the CBD area of Ararat, project funding has enabled the purchase and installation of fourteen recycle bins and the delivery of an associated community engagement program.

Due to the success of this project all future streetscape upgrades within the Ararat municipality will include provision of recycle bins and surrounds to further reduce the amount of recyclable materials currently going to landfill. Two additional public place recycle bins and surrounds are already proposed for an upgrade to the Barkley St streetscape that is currently underway.

The project final report is now available online.

Glass fertiliser

Over the past five years Advanced Plant Nutrition Pty Ltd (APN) has designed, developed and tested manufacturing systems to produce a value added product from mixed cullet fines. The innovative product is a silicon based fertiliser which can partially substitute for nitrogen and phosphorous (“NPK”) fertilisers. It has the demonstrated effect of increasing nutrient uptake, yield and growth across a range of plants.

The project final report is now available online.

The Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities has released Waste and Recycling in Australia 2011.

The Department commissioned Hyder Consulting to compile data and information on Australia’s national performance on waste and recycling. The purpose of the report is to provide baseline data on waste generation, landfill disposal and recovery of resources and materials, to inform public and private sector decision-making about waste.

The report can be accessed on the Department’s website.

NSW Health and Arthritis Australia have developed comprehensive new accessibility/openability guidelines for industry and government. The simple and practical guidelines will enable packaging technologists to design packaging that is more easy to open and legible. The guidelines contain specifications with example photos of good and bad packaging. The guidelines are primarily for food packaging with an emphasis on opening features, closures, tamper resistance, containers and labelling.

Accessibility will become part of the tender requirements for NSW Health and other health departments from 2013. The guidelines will help suppliers to meet their requirements in particular for portion control items like bottled water, juice, sauces and for any type packaging when it comes to labelling and legibility.

The guidelines are available upon request from Arthritis Australia at design@arthritisaustralia.com.au or call 02 9518 4441.