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Annual Reporting and Compliance Update

As at 30 April 2014, the compliance rate for reports submitted by brand owner signatories stood at 91.5%.

Signatories who are yet to submit their report have until 30 May 2014 to submit reports before facing non-compliance. If assistance is required, please contact our member services team.

Annual Reporting Verification Audit

As part of annual reporting, the APC undertakes an assessment and audit process and it is important that your organisation is ‘audit ready’.  For more information on how to be 'audit ready' please see our Audit Ready Guide for 2014.  Signatories will be notified in June if they have been selected for audit.

Action Plans

Having a current action plan in place is one of your compliance obligations as a signatory.

Signatories with expired action plans are reminded to submit an updated plan as soon as possible, so that you can begin implementing your actions in time to collect data for next year’s annual report. New plans are due by 30 June 2014.

APC Awards Nights

A reminder to eligible signatories who submitted their annual reports on time: this year we will host formal awards ceremonies in July (Melbourne – 15th, Sydney – 23rd) to recognise signatories who achieved superior performance in their industry sector.

Award winners will be contacted individually.

Sustainable Procurement resource series – how to ‘buy recycled’

The APC has partnered with ECO-Buy to develop a series of guides to assist signatories in developing their approach toward procuring recycled content products and thereby meet their commitments under KPI 4.

These documents can be found on our website and include information about how to get started buying recycled, an introduction to recycled content materials and their applications, the opportunities available for including these purchases in different areas of your business, how to engage your suppliers in the process and how to track and report your purchases.

Workshops: free guidance and training from APC

The APC will be offering a new workshop for signatories in NSW in the first week of June.

The aim of this workshop will be to provide new signatory contact officers, and those who feel they could benefit from some additional support and guidance regarding how to practically apply the APC KPIs and goals, develop and implement action plans, report against these plans, and better engage others within their organisation in doing so. This workshop will provide attendees with APC updates, an overview of action plan requirements, and a forum for signatories to network, connect, problem-solve and discover opportunities.

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

Firm dates and locations will be provided dependent on demand. If you would like to attend, please advise by email to apc@packagingcovenant.org.au before COB 23 May.

Case Study Corner: Mr Juice

Mr Juice is a producer of bottled juices that are sold in three Australian states. After completing their 2013 report, they identified an opportunity to improve performance under KPI 4. They already had a buy recycled policy, but implementation had stalled due to a belief that they were not able to incorporate recycled content into food and beverage packaging.

While reviewing their APC commitments, the Mr Juice team found the APC’s resource on Recycled Materials in Food Contact Applications, and saw the potential to incorporate recycled content into their PET juice bottles. Recognising that it would take time to complete testing to ensure that they can safely use recycled PET for their product, they also chose to look for other opportunities to purchase recycled content, using the APC’s new Sustainable Procurement resource series.

After reading these resources, the Mr Juice team detected a range of items that they are already purchasing which have recycled content, as well as areas for expansion. They also decided to start tracking their recycled content purchases using the recycled content tracking spreadsheet, for easier reporting in 2014.

APC Projects Update

New Project: NAT 191/13 Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kids Tryathlon Event Recycling Program

This project aims to implement public place recycling at 11 Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon Event locations across Australia. The event currently attracts approximately 17,000 participants between ages 7 and 15 and approximately 60,000 supporters including families, friends and general public. Sanitarium will provide an education and engagement campaign to participants and supporters with the aim of increasing recycling and reducing packaging waste to landfill.

Final Report: SA 164/12 "Litter Kills" Tourist Destinations Engagement

Keep South Australia Beautiful Litter Data has consistently shown that highways remain the most littered areas in South Australia. Funding was sought from the APC to conduct social research and implement a litter prevention and awareness campaign targeting key tourist destinations in South Australia within 200km of Adelaide to reduce the impact of roadside litter.

The ‘Litter Kills’ message was delivered through a series of signage erected along key tourist routes, displays at tourist information centres and the distribution of over a 10,000 car tidy bags to tourists.

To find out more about this project please see the final report.

APC Recycling Data Methodology Review

To ensure that the APC Recycling Data remains up to date, we will be commissioning a report reviewing the current methodology and laying the foundation for an updated methodology post July 2015. The objective of this review will be to ensure there is an appropriate measure to capture recovery of used packaging materials within Australia for the next 10 years.  We will be releasing a Request for Tender document in the coming weeks. If you are a consultant with extensive experience in statistics, the waste industry, and would like to be emailed a copy of the RFT please contact Jessica Sheehan.

APC Staff Update

Jessica Sheehan Award presentation

Congratulations to Jessica Sheehan

Our Research and Policy Officer, Jessica Sheehan, was recently awarded the Blackstone Waterhouse Lawyers Award as part of her studies toward a Juris Doctor - Law at the University of Technology. The award is given to the student who achieves the best performance in the subject 76024 Environmental Law.

Congratulations Jessica!

New APC Projects Manager - Ben Bateman

Ben is a project manager with experience in major infrastructure and environmental projects within Australia and the United Kingdom. With a background in renewable energy, waste, rail and environmental consulting, he brings a wealth of commercial and project management experience to the APC. Prior to joining the APC, Ben managed a 165MW wind farm development and construction in NSW where he managed the EPC contractor, stakeholder engagement and statutory compliance obligations.

Ben's goal as Projects Manager will be to convert funding opportunities and develop new projects which meet the strategic goals of the APC.

Waste Aid: Helping to close the gap

Waste Aid logo

Waste Aid seeks to improve waste outcomes in remote and disadvantaged communities. It has been established to ensure that these communities have access to waste management services that average Australians take for granted.

The Australian Packaging Covenant is proud to be a foundation sponsor of Waste Aid. Initially the organisation will be focussing on a baseline study to determine the current status of waste services and infrastructure in indigenous communities to help inform public policy and identify communities in greatest need.

If you’d like to contact Waste Aid to find out how you can help please email info@wasteaid.org.au

Events

IAPRI World Conference on Packaging June 2014

Victoria University will host delegates at the 19th IAPRI World Conference on Packaging in Melbourne Australia. More than 130 papers have been accepted for oral and poster presentations, representing more than 300 authors and 100 organisations from 29 countries. The conference will provide a forum for leading researchers and global experts to gather and share their research findings in the field of packaging, distribution and logistics. A range of key topics will be covered including active & intelligent packaging, distribution packaging, and packaging sustainability among many others.

Sponsorship packages for  Australian Industry partners are also available.  Details on the conference program and sponsorship opportunities are available on the conference web page: www.vu.edu.au/IAPRI-2014

APC & Mobile Muster Collection Drive

More than 20 signatories have already registered to participate in the APC’s Mobile Muster competition – aligned to signatories undertaking ‘other product stewardship actions’ under KPI 7.

Details about the competition, including prizes were contained in last month's e-news.

The winning signatories will awarded with a recycled plastic garden bed kit from Ewood to donate to the charity or organisation of their choice.

This initiative is being conducted in the spirit of product stewardship and can be included under activities conducted as part of KPI 7. Get your workmates involved and start a conversation about product stewardship and the APC today!