Sustainability

The first ever meeting of the international members of the Plastics Pact Network convened in South Africa on 23 January, with delegates from around the world meeting in Cape Town.

Amcor has again been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices: Australia Index, being ranked within the 91st percentile of the packaging and containers industry.

Detpak has teamed up with Uber Eats to produce smaller-sized paper delivery bags to cater for small and single orders in Australia and New Zealand, to help reduce the carbon emissions impact.

WA-based Bannister Downs dairy has partnered with Visy to adopt 2-litre plastic milk bottles made from 100% recycled plastics and collected from recycling programs.

The Australian government has funded a co-operative research centre as part of its project to combat plastic waste, which aims to transform how plastic is designed, used, and recycled.

Brunswick’s Wholefoods Unwrapped Collective has been recognised as the Community Champion winner in the Circular Economy Innovation category at the 2023 VIC Premier’s Sustainability Awards.

The $600m Maryvale EfW project has reached a major milestone, signing a multi-million-dollar engineering design agreement with Spanish infrastructure group Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios.

The federal government says it will invest $127 million in research centres to eliminate plastic waste and cut emissions. This includes transforming the way plastics are designed, manufactured, used and recycled.

For the first time in its history, the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) participated at COP28, giving voice to the important connection between packaging and its role in transforming food systems.

An extra 1700 tonnes of plastic waste will be diverted from Tasmanian landfill each year thanks to a $1.26 million co-investment from the Australian and Tasmanian governments.

NSW’s recycling scheme, Return and Earn, is celebrating six years of success, with 8 out of 10 NSW adults participating and over 10.4 billion drink containers returned for recycling.

Head of Packaging at Woolworths, Bryan McKay is the APCO Sustainability Champion for 2023. PKN spoke to him about his leadership approach to bring others along on the sustainability journey.

Environmental groups, along with recycling and waste management bodies, are calling on states and territories to follow Queensland in including wine and spirit bottles in container deposit schemes.

Beverage brand Capi will be transitioning from plastic labels to paper ones, which it says will make the glass bottle 100 per cent recyclable. Capi has also refreshed the pack design to boost shelf presence.

Detmold Group, manufacturer of paper- and board-based sustainable packaging products, says it is increasing its sustainability focus, with the first of its multiple facilities “flicking the switch” to solar energy.

In October, the NSW and Victorian EPAs partnered with Tangaroa Blue, along with active participation from local plastic industry members, to assess the extent of the nurdle issue through a Nurdle Hunt.