Compliance to the National Environment Protection (Used Packaging Materials) Measure 2011 is compulsory for all licensee’s and owners of trade marks under which a product is sold in Australia. The Covenant is an agreement by governments and industry participants based on the principles of product stewardship and shared responsibility.
APCO is a co-regulatory, not for profit organisation partnering with government and industry to reduce the environmental impact of packaging in Australian communities. APCO delivers this model of shared responsibility through the promotion of sustainable packaging activities including sustainable design, recycling initiatives, waste to landfill reduction and circular economy projects.
All of our equipment comes from our overseas suppliers with various forms of packaging including treated timber, cardboard and plastic. By far the biggest by volume and weight is the treated timber, followed by cardboard and then plastic. Whilst this type of packaging is unavoidable for this type of heavy equipment, we can do our best to ensure the impact on the environment is minimised.
To this end, we have now made it company policy to:
- Separate all the solid timber from all engineered timber (such as chipboard) and send the solid timber for recycling using local small waste business, Rocket Bins.
- Collect all paper and cardboard waste for recycling.
- Minimise the use of plastic packaging.
- Re-use all packaging when safe and appropriate to do so.
These changes have reduced our total waste going to landfill by approximately 80%.
Further information on the National Environment Protection (Used Packaging Materials) Measure 2011 can be found here: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2011L02093
