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Annual Awards

Annual Awards2

On behalf of the APCO team, congratulations to all of our APCO Awards finalists and winners for 2020.

Like all things in 2020, our annual celebration looked a little different this year. And while we will miss the opportunity to bring our membership community together to connect, this year’s online format is still a fantastic opportunity to recognise the members of our community that are going above and beyond - often in the most exceptional of circumstances.

The devastating impacts of COVID-19 have meant a year of deep uncertainty for our industry. Yet despite its numerous challenges, I’m proud to confirm that APCO and our Members have continued to deliver tangible, measurable and inspiring action against the 2025 National Packaging Targets.

Every business shortlisted has displayed a dedication to innovative packaging design, a deep commitment to supply chain collaboration and demonstrated clear leadership among their peers and competitors.

I’d like to personally extend my sincere thanks and congratulations to all of this year’s finalists and winners. Your leadership and innovation are an essential part of Australia’s transition to a new, vibrant, strong and circular approach to packaging.

Yours faithfully,Brooke Donnelly Chief Executive Officer, APCO

CEO

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Finalists & Winners

Annual Awards4

Rivalea (Australia) This reporting period, Rivalea Australia has actively engaged in multiple closed-loop collaboration initiatives and worked to advocate commercial packaging innovation and sustainability within the Pork industry. Through reviews against the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines, Rivalea Australia’s current packaging has been optimised for minimum material use whilst maintaining industry safety standards. Similarly, ongoing investigation into improving business-to-business packaging has led to increased recycled content throughout all secondary cardboard packaging and PET distribution trays, as well as increased use of reusable crates across operations. Further focusing on materials reduction and re-use to minimise waste, the team achieved a 27% annual reduction in on-site solid waste and successfully diverted almost 80 tonnes of total waste from landfill.

Finalists

AGRICULTURE & NURSERIES

Winner

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Qantas Airways‘Continuing to carry Australians to their destinations’, Qantas Group is consciously working to minimise its environmental impact where possible. This reporting period, Qantas Group is on track to achieve its waste targets, which include reducing waste to landfill by 75% by the end of 2021 and removing 100 million single-use plastics from operations every year by the end of 2020. Furthermore, committed to continuing its industry leadership in waste reduction, Qantas has welcomed knowledge sharing with other airlines, and provided staff training on sustainable packaging and disposal to elevate consumer engagement from its cabin crew to passengers.

AIRLINE, ACCOMMODATION AND TOURISM

Winner

Annual Awards6

Colourtrend Paints (Aust.) Continuing efforts to reduce its environmental impact, this reporting period Colourtrend Paints has shown an outstanding commitment to improving the sustainability of its packaging. Having established a packaging policy focusing on ‘Reuse and Recycle’, the team has integrated packaging sustainability targets into its annual business plan as well as purchasing procedures. Colourtrend Paints has eliminated paper labels, introduced sustainable reuse solutions for intermediate bulk containers and transitioned to recyclable resins. Furthermore, investigation into improving business-to-business packaging efficiencies has led to a 30% increase in pallet packaging capacity, with this reducing the overall quantity of pallets used and associated shrink wrapping both from suppliers, and to customers.

CHEMICALS, HARDWARE AND MACHINERY

Winner

Finalists

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Kyocera Document Solutions AustraliaKyocera has continued its sustainability progress by setting firm commitments to reduce waste and integrate packaging sustainability at the core of both its product development processes and supplier relationships. The company has carried out extensive packaging testing to maximize protective functioning, as well as reviewed 100% of its packaging against the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines. By doing so, opportunities for redesign have enabled the team to achieve materials optimisation across 90% of its packaging. While further embracing sustainable design and circularity, Kyocera has also developed a recycled content moulded paper format to replace other padding materials such as polystyrene. Moreover, this reporting period, Kyocera successfully diverted 77% of all on-site waste from landfill.

Finalists

ELECTRONICS

Winner

Annual Awards8

Chobani Having developed an internal Sustainable Packaging Roadmap that consciously considers the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines and the 2025 National Packaging Targets, Chobani has demonstrated its outstanding commitment to continually reviewing and improving packaging sustainability and waste management practices. Partnering with programs such as REDcycle, Dairy Australia and Clean-Up Australia, Chobani has also demonstrated excellent industry leadership, while its consumer engagement, including application of the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) across all packaging by 2020, remains beyond best practice. Continuing to review all new packaging within the Packaging Recyclability Evaluation Portal (PREP), more than 75% of its total packaging is now recyclable through Australian kerbside systems. Operationally, the team is also committed to reducing business-to-business packaging and is working with suppliers to establish reuse systems for bulk packaging where possible.

FOOD AND BEVERAGE

Winner

Finalists

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3M AustraliaBuilding on last year’s excellent efforts to improve packaging sustainability and reduce waste, this reporting period, 3M proudly achieved a zero waste to landfill result across 30% of its sites. Through comprehensive review against the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines as well as Life Cycle Assessment tools, 3M Australia also reduced 279kg of packaging across its range. The company also committed to including recycled and renewable materials within its packaging, and continued to actively engage its consumers on the importance of recycled content and packaging sustainability through on-pack labelling and customer campaigns. Similarly, 3M Australia has diligently worked to ensure supplier adherence to packaging sustainability goals through its comprehensive Responsible Business Conduct policy and Sustainable Supplier Agreements.

GENERAL MERCHANDISE AND APPAREL

Winner

Finalists

Annual Awards10

ABC Tissue ProductsAlways looking for opportunities to improve its packaging sustainability, ABC Tissue Products has delivered a range of packaging updates this reporting period to optimise packaging material efficiency and recoverability. By completing extensive reviews against the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines and through continuing its partnership with REDcycle, all packaging is now either recyclable or reusable. Furthermore, through implementing a ‘buy recycled policy’, most packaging now contains recycled or renewable materials. Closely assessing its business-to-business packaging for improvement opportunities, 2019 saw the team reduce plastic consumption by nearly 200 metric tonnes. Finally, ABC Tissue Products has proudly collaborated with a number of collaborative initiatives to engage consumer on the importance of sustainable packaging, recycled content, effective recycling and anti-littering.

HEALTHCARE AND SCIENTIFIC

Winner

Finalists

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OfficeworksOfficeworks has integrated the 2025 National Packaging Targets into its Sustainable Packaging Policy, which prioritises circular design among other sustainability principles. This reporting period, the team has included either recycled or renewable content within 98% of all packaging and labelled nearly 60% with the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL). The company supported this through developing a Sustainable Packaging Roadmap and Dashboard and reviewing nearly three thousand packaging SKUs against the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines. As a result, Officeworks redesigned larger packaging formats to remove polystyrene and achieve optimisation across nearly 40% of all packaging products. Additionally, already committed to diverting at least 90% of all waste from landfill by 2020, 2019 saw Officeworks successfully divert 84% of operational waste from landfill and actively engage both suppliers and customers around the importance of packaging sustainability and waste diversion.

LARGE RETAILER

Winner

Finalists

Annual Awards12

CHEP Australia Through its ‘share and reuse model’ CHEP is committed to delivering sustainable supply chain solutions that meet a growing need for circularity in packaging. Using detailed product-specific life cycle analysis systems, CHEP is committed to understanding and optimising its entire range of packaging. Having already achieved a product range that is 100% optimised and uses only recycled or renewable materials, CHEP also extends its packaging sustainability commitment by maximising distribution packaging efficiency to reduce total service-associated carbon emissions. Considering all customers as partners, this transport optimisation programme highlights the power of collaboration, and exemplifies CHEP’s commitment to product stewardship and reducing the environmental impact of packaging through both service and design.

LOGISTICS AND WAREHOUSING

Winner

Finalists

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LyondellBasell AustraliaAs a leader within the business-to-business raw packaging space, LyondellBasell Australia prioritises reusable containers and the recycling of operational materials wherever possible. As a polymer manufacturer committed to a circular economy, LyondellBasell Australia partners with customers to develop optimised grades for sustainable packaging and is a committed partner of Operation Clean Sweep®, a member of Plastics Stewardship Australia, and has played a key role in founding the global, cross-value chain Alliance to End Plastic Waste. This reporting period, LyondellBasell Australia delivered more than 70% of products in reusable bulk packaging formats and diverted 80% of total on-site waste from landfill. Furthermore, by conducting Environmental Management System Reviews, LyondellBasell Australia has worked to actively understand, measure and mitigate the environmental impacts of its operations and services.

PACKAGING MANUFACTURERS AND SUPPLIERS

Winner

Finalists

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Optus This reporting period, Optus continued its outstanding commitment to improving packaging sustainability. Having made packaging a core pillar under its Environmental Strategy and Product Stewardship commitment, 2019 saw Optus publish ten packaging sustainability targets, embed a detailed supplier packaging checklist across vendor contracts, initiate a supply chain sustainability risk assessment and implement an internal sustainable packaging training module for all new staff. Through review against the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines, Optus has also worked to reduce packaging material weights and by doing so, has achieved the optimisation of almost 85% of its total packaging. Furthermore, the team has publicly committed to increasing total recyclable or renewable content of packaging to 95% by 2021.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Winner

Finalists

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Philip MorrisWorking within strict legislative parameters, Philip Morris International (PMI) is committed to the sustainable design and circularity of its packaging wherever possible. Having reviewed all packaging against the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines and a Life Cycle Analysis assessment, this reporting period saw a 3% packaging materials reduction. The company’s 2025 packaging roadmap also features materials circularity. PMI has a goal to ensure effective post-consumer materials collection and recovery for smoke-free products and has worked to raise consumer awareness around anti-littering and make disposal infrastructure more readily available. Additionally, alongside increasing recycled content within its operational packaging, PMI has made 87.7% of packaging from certified renewable content, with total recyclable packaging at 93.5%.

TOBACCO

Winner

Annual Awards16

Kellogg (Aust)This reporting period, Kellogg Australia has reviewed all packaging on the Australian market against the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines and within the Packaging Recyclability Evaluation Portal (PREP). Following this, the company has redesigned almost all packaging for optimised materials efficiency and weight reduction, with more than 85% now recyclable through kerbside or via the REDcycle program. Operationally, Kellogg Australia has diverted almost 95% of all on-site waste from landfill and ensures any timber packaging used is made from either recycled or renewable content. The company also placed further focus on business-to-business packaging efficiency, with all shipping in Australia now done with returnable pallecons for reuse, while cases have been redesigned to optimise bulk packing capacity and space. The team also actively communicates sustainability information to key suppliers and international divisions to ensure they are aware of Australia’s 2025 National Packaging Targets.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING OPERATIONS

Winner

Finalists

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CHEP AustraliaProviding sustainable packaging is the core of CHEP Australia’s business model. This reporting period saw CHEP facilitate a transport optimisation programme that, by maximising distribution packaging utilisation, collaboration and reverse logistics, saved over 153,000kms of transport and 122.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions. The company further engages customers around the value of circularity through tracking and sharing quantifiable customer-specific environmental indicators. These include the CO2, waste and resource savings customers have made as a direct result of using CHEP products as opposed to its single-use counterparts. Finally, with a packaging product range that sees 100% optimisation and a commitment to using only recycled or renewable materials, CHEP Australia has achieved its outstanding zero product-waste-to-landfill target.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING OUTCOMES

Winner

Finalists

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Coca-Cola AmatilBuilding on its ambitious goal to have a weighted average of 50% recycled plastic content across its entire Australian packaging portfolio by 2020, this reporting period saw Coca-Cola Amatil achieve the outstanding feat of 7 out of 10 of its plastic bottles in Australia made from 100% recycled materials. Furthermore, working to actively engage its consumers on packaging sustainability, the team introduced prominent point-of-sale and on-pack messaging to highlight increased recycled content rates across its portfolio, and further encourage responsible customer disposal and recycling behaviour. With all existing packaging SKUs already optimised for materials efficiency and recoverability, Coca-Cola Amatil also uses a leading global accounting tool developed by brand partner The Coca-Cola Company to evaluate the lifecycle emissions associated with all its primary packaging.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN LEADERSHIP

Winner

Finalists

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KeepCupKeepCup demonstrates a business-wide commitment to providing sustainable solutions both in product and packaging. With a packaging strategy underpinned by the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines and regular Life Cycle Analysis assessments, KeepCup embraces circularity while focusing on reduction and reuse. Moreover, through its active consumer engagement on the importance of sustainability and reuse, this ‘reuse revolution’ estimates its customers avoid more than 5 million single-use cups being used every day. All retail packaging is recyclable, made from 100% renewable content and optimised for packaging materials efficiency, and labelled with FSC certification on-pack. This reporting period KeepCup has also worked to remove single-use business-to-business plastic packaging where possible, and diverted 85% of on-site waste from landfill and redesigned its packaging to reduce 91% of breakages.

HIGHEST PERFORMING NEW MEMBER

Winner

Finalists

Annual Awards20

TerraCycle Australia & New Zealand, TerraCycle’s Colgate Community Garden ChallengeRun as part of the Colgate Oral Care Recycling Program, this project has seen innovative recyclers TerraCycle, partner with the Colgate Community Garden Challenge in recovering hard-to-recycle oral care waste. The challenge invites all Australian schools to freely register, collect and ship oral care waste, of any brand, to TerraCycle for recycling into new products. Supported by a number of exciting participation incentives, including the chance to win a recycled community garden set as well as monthly prizes such as upcycled pencil cases, 2019 saw students from more than 1,200 schools ship more than 230,000 pieces of oral care waste to TerraCycle for recycling. As well as diverting multiple tonnes of oral care waste from landfill, the challenge highlights that there are solutions for waste streams beyond kerbside bins, and encourages students and the wider school community to think twice about what they are sending to landfill. Five years on from the program’s launch, Colgate’s oral care program has diverted more than one million pieces of waste from landfill, while in two years, the TerraCycle Colgate Community Garden Challenge has educated thousands of students, teachers and parents on alternative recycling beyond kerbside collections.

OUR PACKAGING FUTURE AWARD FOR IMPROVED COLLECTION AND RECYCLING SYSTEMS

Winner

FinalistsIndustrially Compostable Coffee Pods with supporting collection scheme

Compost Service

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Coca-Cola Amatil, 100 per cent recycled PET packagingCoca-Cola Amatil is the first company to offer 100% recycled PET packaging for both its still and carbonated beverages in Australia. This has been possible due to local innovation spearheaded by its small, in-house research and development ‘Futureworks’ packaging team, based in Eastern Creek, Western Sydney. As the first company globally to package carbonated drinks at scale in 100% recycled PET, Coca-Cola Amatil’s commitment to using recycled plastic content in the Australian beverages industry is a key driver in Australia’s transition to a circular economy for packaging. Having achieved its commitment to make 7 out of 10 beverage bottles in its Australian portfolio from 100% recycled plastic by 2020, over 50% of the company’s plastic portfolio is now made from recycled PET. Positively disrupting recycled plastic supply chains and demonstrating leadership to waste, recycling and packaging industries around the world, Coca-Cola Amatil’s innovative food-grade recycled PET is an invaluable driver for change and an outstanding example of end-market leadership.

OUR PACKAGING FUTURE AWARD FOR END-MARKET LEADERSHIP

Winner

FinalistsLaunch of delivery satchels made of 100% post-consumer recycled plastic

Reusable Cove range

Annual Awards22

Unilever ANZ Empowering Aussies to #buybetter with post-consumer recycled plasticIn 2019, Unilever ANZ introduced recycled HDPE plastic into its bottles. Supported by state government funding and celebrated by industry, media and alike, this outstanding step toward packaging circularity has been enhanced by the Unilever ANZ #buybetter recycled plastics communications campaign. Through raising awareness of Unilever ANZ’s shift to recycled plastic, the campaign works to educate consumers on the difference between virgin and recycled material, and the importance of recycled content in driving a circular economy for plastic packaging. Through the campaign, Unilever ANZ aims to empower consumers to ‘buy better’ through sustainable purchasing decisions. Implemented across the first half of 2020, the campaign consisted of social media content creation and delivery, media relations, micro influencer engagement, government relations and retailer activations. Working to leverage the expertise and reach of Unilever partners, the #buybetter campaign demonstrates the impact of collective action in communicating the importance of recycled content and influencing behaviour change to inspire consumers to be part of the plastics solution. As well as this, through focusing on two key actions, making sustainable decisions at home, and closing the loop on plastics through buying packaging made with recycled content, the campaign offers an accessible example for other business to replicate in their own education campaigns.

OUR PACKAGING FUTURE AWARD FOR PACKAGING SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION – CONSUMER EDUCATION

Winner

World’s First Zero Waste Flight

Packaging Sustainability Education

Finalists

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ALDI Stores 25by25 Plastics and Packaging Commitments and Communication CampaignIn June 2019, ALDI Stores announced its 25by25 Plastics and Packaging commitment, an ambitious goal to reduce all plastic packaging by 25% by 2025. Understanding that to make this goal possible, significant reductions in plastics and packaging would have to be achieved throughout its entire retail supply chain, ALDI Stores developed a campaign to engage, educate and inspire employees, suppliers, business partners and customers, on the importance of plastic reduction. The 25by25 campaign was launched with a sustainable packaging event for suppliers and business partners, followed by on-pack messaging, web and social media, catalogue and in-store marketing, as well as the company’s first ever public plastic and packaging progress report. Furthermore, physical posters detailing the 25by25 commitment were deployed across every ALDI store, warehouse and office. Beyond this, the campaign also established a ‘Packaging Taskforce’ to prioritise plastic and packaging reduction activity across the ALDI product range, and has introduced 25by25 branded reusable metal water bottles at tills to replace their previously single-use plastic counterparts.

Coles Brand Recyclable Packaging Project

Eco-Friendly Packaging Webinar series

OUR PACKAGING FUTURE AWARD FOR PACKAGING SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION – INDUSTRY EDUCATION

Winner

Finalists

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Matthew Mills, Garden City PlasticsMatthew Mills is the National Sales and Marketing Manager at Garden City Plastics, the largest manufacturer and supplier of recycled horticultural pots and containers in Australia. As a believer in large scale repurposing and conservation of resources, Matthew leads an Australian team focused on listening carefully to customer needs in order to find new ways to respond and innovate, always with an eye to maximising the opportunity to recover and reuse materials already flowing through the market. Matthew has been determined to build commitment to a new industry-wide approach at all levels of the Horticultural Sector, to enable and further improve recycling rates for plant packaging produced and placed on the Australian market. Fully aligned and supported by APCO’s Collective Impact approach, Matthew’s efforts have demonstrated that industry-led closed-loop recycling can be a reality and that a circular economy for horticultural packaging is emerging as a rallying point for in Green Life production throughout Australia, for Horticulturists, Industry Peak Bodies, Retailers and Consumers alike.

Monica Doyle Brownes Dairy

Lachlan Feggans CHEP Australia

Ian Jacobi Modern Dental Pacific

Caitlyn Richards Coles

APCO SUSTAINABILITY CHAMPION

Winner

Finalists

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LyondellBasell AustraliaDrawn from the 12 Industry Sector award winners, the Sustainable Packaging Excellence Award recognises a standout performer, internally and externally. To win this award, a company must demonstrate clear commitment to sustainable packaging operations, circular packaging design and outstanding industry leadership.

“At LyondellBasell Australia we strive for excellence in everything we do, including safely and reliably delivering high quality products to our customers. In 2019, we are very proud to have delivered more than 70% of our domestic product in reusable packaging, highlighting our commitment to sustainability. It is both a great honour and motivator to receive recognition with this APCO Award.” – Mitchell Killeen, Managing Director, LyondellBasell Australia.

Congratulations to LyondellBasell Australia

SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING EXCELLENCE AWARD

Winner

Annual Awards