New Zealand Packaging Accord 2004: Aluminium Sector Action Plan
1. Introduction
The Aluminium packaging sector within New Zealand is unique in that those companies producing the majority of the products ie. beverage containers are themselves in no way involved in the collection of the subsequent used packaging.
However, the producing companies are an essential component of the total Accord process in as much as they supply critical data on production and direct import and exports.
It is these companies which have contributed to the Aluminium Sector Action Plan, and it is noteworthy that they have addressed the issues of energy usage and the objectives set within in the New Zealand Waste Strategy. The manufacturing companies have also recognised their contribution to the overall aluminium sector adding to the confidence that the Accord objectives for this product can be met.
2. About this sector
The production of aluminium packaging in New Zealand is all from imported feedstock and is primarily for the production of beverage containers. There is a recognised volume of foil and foil related products used within New Zealand but this is minor compared with the production of beverage containers.
The opportunity will exist as the Accord develops to more closely identify the non beverage component through the cooperation between the Aluminium Sector and the Brand Owners and Retailers Sector.
3. This sector action plan
As part of the process, all parties to the Accord have prepared sector action plans. Sectors represented in the Accord are:
- Aluminium
- Brand Owners and Retailers
- Central Government
- Glass
- Local Government New Zealand
- Paper
- Plastics
- Recycling Operators of New Zealand
- Steel
This sector action plan identifies the contribution that the sector and the organisations it represents will make to the achievement of New Zealand Packaging Accord 2004 objective and, in so doing, related aspects of the New Zealand Waste Strategy.
It reflects the collaborative approach of the Accord process, which encourages all parties to work towards achieving a common objective and, of necessity, acknowledges that there are different ways of doing this.
Each party to this plan has agreed to the implementation of the activities/outcomes it lists as a minimum commitment to the Accord. The actions agreed to within the sector are detailed in the tables that follow, along with the timeframe the sector has to plan, implement and, where stated, achieve each of its commitments.
4. Parties to this plan
The two principal enterprises involved in the production of aluminium packaging in New Zealand (beverage containers) are Amcor Beverage & Aerosol Cans and VisyPak New Zealand Beverage Packaging.
There will be a direct relationship between the recycling industry and the achievement of this plan and therefore a major contribution to the collection of statistics will continue to come from the scrap metal industry, some of which are members of the Recycling Operators of New Zealand.
5. What this sector action plan contains
The sector has agreed to address all eight Accord measures of progress as listed below. It was agreed that not every measure will be equally applicable to individuals within the sector. However, as the areas are interconnected they should be read and interpreted in a synergistic manner. The measures for action are:
- Mass balance data
- Trends of annual estimated packaging waste to landfill (or other disposal methods) per person
- Packaging design and procurement
- Development of sustainable markets for reused and recycled packaging materials
- Programmes to achieve national targets (including plastic shopping bag reduction target)
- Consumer information and involvement
- Accord promotion
- In-house waste reduction and resource recovery.
In general, during the first two years of the Accord (Years 1 and 2) the sector will work towards benchmarking its activities and progress. In the last three years (Years 3-5) there is an expectation of improvements being made. The sector will work with all other sectors to reduce the consumption of packaging and improve its recovery. It will report annually on the activities listed in this sector action plan.
6. Sector action plan activities
1. MASS BALANCE DATA (CLAUSE 20)
PAC.NZ will report aggregates annually on behalf of brand owners, retailers and packaging manufacturer groups. Weights of packaging materials consumed and recycled will be collected and presented in formats used since 1994, thus allowing year-by-year comparisons. Reporting methodology will be improved and data will be independently reviewed.
COMMITMENT |
ACTIVITIES |
YEAR |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| COMPANY/ ORGANISATION | Contribute to packaging consumption (including imports) and collection data. | Consumption — domestic and import data (brand owners, retailers/importers and manufacturers). Collection for recycling data (local government and recyclers). |
Years 1-5 |
| SECTOR | Collate data by packaging types by sector. | At regular intervals, data will be provided with respect to the amount of prime raw material used within conversion of said raw material to manufactured product. Respective plants will undertake efforts in the reduction of raw materials used in the conversion process. Data will be provided in tonnes used within each interval. |
Years 1-5 |
| JOINT | Improve/revise the format for mass balance data to achieve transparency. PAC.NZ reports annually. Independent review of PAC.NZ findings. |
Work with all sectors to improve data collection and agree on methodology (eg. shippers). Investigate options to improve accuracy and transparent reporting of methodology. |
Years 1-5 |
2. TRENDS OF ANNUAL ESTIMATED PACKAGING WASTE TO LANDFILL PER PERSON (CLAUSE 21)
Annual estimates of packaging waste to landfill (or other disposal method) per person by material (paper, plastic, glass, steel, aluminium, composites) and by aggregate, by weight. An eventual reduction in these rates will be one of the important indicators of the Accord’s success.
COMMITMENT |
ACTIVITIES |
YEAR |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| COMPANY/ ORGANISATION | Collect data and report findings to all sectors on packaging types. |
Develop methodology to compare to mass balance data with Solid Waste Analysis Protocol information from 4 landfill sites around NZ. Audit results. |
Years 1-2 (Start in 2005) |
| SECTOR | Improve packaging format for Solid Waste Analysis Protocol (SWAP). At regular intervals, data will be provided with respect to the amount of landfill waste during normal operation. |
Where practicable, programs will be undertaken to reduce landfill deposits. Furthermore, plants to monitor current operations with historical data. Data will be provided in tonnes used within each interval. Targets for reductions will be submitted at the start of each measuring point, these targets will be based in percentage of historical data on the previous year from each sector member. |
Years 1-5 |
| JOINT | Decrease in per capita rates of packaging waste to landfill. | Work with all sectors to improve recovery. Report annually. |
Years 1-5 |
3. PACKAGING DESIGN AND PROCUREMENT (CLAUSE 22)
Annual sector action plan reports will document:
- Packaging design: a drive for sustainability in packaging design by creating and participating in better design industry training programmes, reviewing new and existing packaging against codes of practice, cooperating with the resource recovery sector during packaging design, and dealing with non-compliance with the PAC.NZ Code of Practice
- Packaging procurement: improving policies and practices by adhering to codes of practice for sustainable packaging procurement and through supply chain initiatives.
COMMITMENT |
ACTIVITIES |
YEAR |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| COMPANY/ ORGANISATION | Ongoing review process for new and existing packaging using PAC.NZ Code of Practice. | Undertake review and report key findings. Discuss with stakeholders (eg. suppliers, customers, marketing, recyclers and other sectors). Decision on all individual packaging issues. Changes implemented to reduce new packaging to a minimum and ensure recyclability. New packaging introduced. |
Years 1-5 |
Develop and implement green purchasing policy. Cooperative environmental management improvement programmes. Educate own workforce. |
Years 1-5 (Start 2005) |
||
| SECTOR | Report the number/percentage of companies/organisations that have implemented a review process of new and existing packaging. | Modifications to packaging can be reflected under 1. Mass Balance Data. This reflects directly to the conversion process, and as this could be seen as commercially sensitive due to industry manufacturing numbers, reporting maybe limited. Report on trends only if available. | Years 1-5 |
| Industry training programmes. | Assess existing training — tertiary and industry. | Years 1-2 | |
| Rectify non-compliance complaints. | Audit packaging. Rectify complaints. |
Years 1-5 | |
| JOINT | Design a checklist for packaging audits and identify and address design issues. | Work with sectors to update PAC.NZ Code of Practice and promote its use | Years 1-2 |
Work with all sectors to identify issues. Develop programmes to address issues. |
Years 1-5 | ||
4. DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOR REUSED AND RECYCLED PACKAGING MATERIALS (CLAUSE 23)
Closing the loop on waste by developing and fostering sustainable markets for reused and recycled packaging materials. Annual sector action plan reports will document cooperative ventures between industry sectors, identify any barriers to, and any frameworks supporting, sustainable resource efficiency industries in New Zealand, and any results from joint initiatives.
COMMITMENT |
ACTIVITIES |
YEAR |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| COMPANY/ ORGANISATION | Develop purchasing policies that encourage the use of recovered materials. | N/A | Years 1-5 |
| SECTOR | Report the number/percentage of companies/organisations with purchasing policies that encourage the use of recovered materials. | This section is not directly relevant to the aluminium packaging manufacturer. Product becomes property of brand owners but each manufacturer to review purchasing polices with a view to minimising environmental impact. | Years 1-5 |
| JOINT | Work with other sectors to develop and support sustainable markets for recovered packaging materials. | Work with Accord parties to identify barriers to, and opportunities for (eg. transport and glass issues in the South Island) developing mechanisms and supporting businesses and projects that improve collection and recovery of used packaging materials and sustainable markets for these materials. | Years 1-5 |
5. PROGRAMMES TO ACHIEVE NATIONAL TARGETS (CLAUSE 24)
The following are 2008 national recycling targets for recovery of packaging materials (by weight as a percentage of consumption):
- Aluminium 65%
- Glass 55%
- Paper 70%
- Steel 43%
- Plastic 23%
All sectors will review these targets and materials within two years of signing the Accord. A plastic shopping bag reduction target, by quantity, will be identified in the Brand Owners and Retailers Sector Action Plan.
COMMITMENT
|
ACTIVITIES |
YEAR |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| COMPANY/ ORGANISATION | Contribute to recovery and recycling systems. | Work with recyclers and local government to improve recovery of post production and post consumer packaging waste. | Years 1-5 |
| SECTOR | Use mass balance (and SWAP) data to track and report progress against targets. | Not relevant to sector at this point, product passed through to brand owners. | |
| JOINT | Identify and address recovery issues. Meet agreed national recycling targets. |
Work with all sectors to identify issues. Develop programmes to address issues. Establish communication channels to notify recyclers of significant changes in packaging material. |
Years 1-5 |
6. CONSUMER INFORMATION AND INVOLVEMENT (CLAUSE 25)
Ways of informing consumers and involving them in sustainable packaging design and packaging resource recovery programmes must be developed. Consumers must be made more aware of packaging issues and empowered to act on their decisions about packaging purchases, recovery and disposal.
COMMITMENT
|
ACTIVITIES |
YEAR |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| COMPANY/ ORGANISATION | Implement relevant parts of the programme. | Use recycle coding on all products. | Years 1-5 |
| SECTOR | Assess programme and develop an implementation strategy. | Not relevant to sector at this point. | Years 1-5 |
| JOINT | Develop a communication strategy for consumer information on the Accord. | Establish a representative working group to:
Inform consumers about the need for and the role of packaging eg. health and safety, tampering/pilfering, social and economic issues, its contribution to the total solid waste stream, levels of packaging recovery and recycling, the environmental footprint of packaging types, gains made in packaging performance and recovery to date and the part consumers can play in the Accord |
Years 1-2 |
| Monitor and review results and improve consumer information and education strategies as required. | Years 3-5 | ||
7. ACCORD PROMOTION (CLAUSE 26)
Ensuring target sector and consumer audiences know about the Accord and that its issues involve them, as well as ensuring they understand the commitments embodied in sector action plans. It is also important to promote and recognise excellence in environmentally acceptable packaging.
COMMITMENT
|
ACTIVITIES |
YEAR |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| COMPANY/ ORGANISATION | Promote the Accord within the company/organisation. | Years 1-5 | |
| SECTOR | Promote the Accord within the sector. | Years 1-5 | |
| JOINT | Work with other sectors to promote the Accord. Target audiences:
|
Develop concise and consistent messages for promotion within extended sector groups. Promote and encourage participation in environmental awards programmes such as the Environmentally Acceptable Packaging Awards (PAC.NZ) and the Green Ribbon Awards (MfE). Provide ongoing assessment of the delivery of these messages. |
Years 1-5 |
8. IN-HOUSE WASTE REDUCTION AND RESOURCE RECOVERY (CLAUSE 27)
Promoting in-house waste reduction and resource recovery across sectors and reporting annually on any initiatives.
COMMITMENT
|
ACTIVITIES |
YEAR |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| COMPANY/ ORGANISATION | Initiatives to reduce waste and improve resource recovery. | Assess against best practice guidelines for hazardous substances eg. EU Packaging Regulations. | Years 1-2 (2005) |
| SECTOR | Report the number/percentage of organisations with initiatives. | At regular intervals, data will be provided with respect to the amount of waste discharge from the production. Measurements will consist of:
|
Years 1-5 (annually, quarterly if required) |
| JOINT | (no joint commitment) | ||
