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New Zealand Packaging Accord 2004: Steel Sector Action Plan

Steel Can Asscoation of New Zealand (Inc.) logo. Steel Can Recycling logo.

1. Introduction

This action plan has been prepared by the Steel Can Association of New Zealand (Inc.) (SCANZ) to demonstrate the sector’s commitment to reducing the environmental impacts of packaging materials and products. This commitment includes working with other sectors, acknowledging that some aspects of the Accord require significant and joint effort across all sectors to achieve the desired outcomes.

Having worked to ensure the development of an efficient infrastructure and a mature market for recovered steel cans, SCANZ looks forward to working with its partners in the New Zealand Packaging Accord 2004 to grow the volume of these recoveries.

2. About this sector

The Steel Can Association of New Zealand (Inc) (SCANZ) is a not-for-profit incorporated association comprising all local can makers (NCI Packaging, Canpac International and Amcor Australasia) and BlueScope Steel, the supplier of most of the tinplate used by local can makers.

Steel cans are used in a wide variety of applications, including human food, pet food, aerosols, paints and surface coatings, specialist industrial products, edible oils etc.

With a history dating back to the Industrial Revolution, steel is the world’s most recycled material and — thanks to its magnetic properties — one of the most easily recycled. It can be recycled indefinitely without any degradation.

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:

  1. Aluminium
  2. Brand Owners and Retailers
  3. Central Government
  4. Glass
  5. Local Government New Zealand
  6. Paper
  7. Plastics
  8. Recycling Operators of New Zealand
  9. 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 following companies and organisations are members of the Packaging Council of New Zealand (Inc) and are therefore committed to this plan and the Accord process. Their commercial activities relate primarily to this sector action plan:

  • Steel Can Association of New Zealand (Inc) - SCANZ
  • Aerosol Association of New Zealand (Inc)
  • Amcor Beverage & Aerosol Cans
  • Amcor Food Cans Australasia
  • BlueScope Steel Ltd
  • Canpac International Ltd
  • NCI Packaging (NZ) Ltd
  • Steel Can Components Ltd

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:

  1. Mass balance data
  2. Trends of annual estimated packaging waste to landfill (or other disposal methods) per person
  3. Packaging design and procurement
  4. Development of sustainable markets for reused and recycled packaging materials
  5. Programmes to achieve national targets (including plastic shopping bag reduction target)
  6. Consumer information and involvement
  7. Accord promotion
  8. 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. Continue to collate data on annual steel packaging consumption and recoveries. Years 1-5
SECTOR Collate data by packaging types by sector.

Review definitions and methodology against international best practice and ensure consistency with other packaging sectors.

Discuss with other sectors eg. RONZ how to improve accuracy of recovery data.

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.

Cooperate with other sectors and participate in review as required. 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 in 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. N/A  
SECTOR Improve packaging format for Solid Waste Analysis Protocol (SWAP). N/A  
JOINT Decrease in per capita rates of packaging waste to landfill. N/A  

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.

Report annually on initiatives to promote the code of practice.

Report annually on initiatives to reduce packaging mass eg. lightweighting, package re-design, and ensure recyclability of recovered material.

 Years 1-5
SECTOR

Report the number/percentage of companies/organisations that have implemented a review process of new and existing packaging.

Industry training programmes.

Rectify non-compliance complaints.

SCANZ member companies to promote the PAC.NZ Code of Practice to customers ie. brand owners.

SCANZ member companies to support the development of sustainable industry practices by buying, using and/or producing recycled content products and materials where practicable.

As part of their environmental leadership commitment, member companies undertake to work to increase the purchase and use of recycled content products in their own operations subject to price, performance and quality parameters.

Report annually on members’ initiatives.

 Years 1-5
JOINT Design a checklist for packaging audits and identify and address design issues.    

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.

Improve in-house understanding of international markets for scrap steel.

Continue to offer local government a market for recovered steel packaging scrap based on certainty and stability.

Develop initiatives to improve quality of recovered steel packaging scrap.

 Years 1-5
SECTOR Report the number/percentage of companies/organisations with purchasing policies that encourage the use of recovered materials.

SCANZ member companies to develop purchasing policies that encourage use of recovered materials.

Report annually on the percentage of member companies with purchasing policies that encourage the use of recovered material.

 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, 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.

Encourage local government to accept the full range of steel packaging eg. empty aerosols and empty, dry paint tins.

Encourage best practice in the design and implementation of kerbside recycling initiatives through one-to-one communications/mentoring, economic instruments and the Awards to local government (launched in 2003).

Continue to provide support to selected councils/operators through the provision and maintenance of recycling infrastructure (magnets, balers, handling equipment etc.).

 Years 1-5
SECTOR Use mass balance (and SWAP) data to track and report progress against targets. Maintain dialogue with other sectors to assess and review methodology and information flows for determination of recycling rate. Years 1-5
JOINT

Identify and address recovery issues.

Meet agreed national recycling targets.

Work with all sectors to identify issues and develop programmes to address them.

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.   Years 1-5
SECTOR Assess programme and develop an implementation strategy.

Continue to promote Recyclable Steel logo and style guide to customers ie. brand owners.

Recyclable Steel logo.

Work with other sectors eg. brand owners, to encourage them to support use of this logo.

Maintain, update and promote existing consumer website www.steelcans.org.nz

Continue to develop and provide print-ready educational and promotional materials for local government.

Review materials available from the Australian cansmart™ steel can recycling campaign and their suitability for local conditions.

Provide financial support for printing householder materials and for community activities (assessed on a case-by-case basis).

Provide capability to the website to allow householders to check what steel packaging their local council recycles.

Report annually on consumer education initiatives.

Years 1-5
JOINT Develop a communication strategy for consumer information on the Accord.

Establish a representative working group to:

  • Identify the critical components in educational material, cost-effective means for delivering messages and a timeline for implementation of activities. (This group should consider the timeframe over which educational materials will be produced and delivered and the date for review and modification of any programme).
  • Review and evaluate existing educational material and programmes. Also identify other specific opportunities that will support the Accord generally, and the sectors in particular.
  • Identify aspects which are consistent or inconsistent with Accord objectives and amend/delete them where they serve no other or a redundant purpose. Where programmes are consistent with objectives, critical factors are to be promoted and included in current and new programmes.
  • Develop clear, generic messages capable of implementation by all sector groups and appropriate for scaling to the size of individual operations. There should not only be consistency of message but also consistency of delivery.
  • Ensure that generic messages are aligned with existing material.
  • Identify and act on opportunities related to the New Zealand Waste Strategy and other programmes, such as lifeafterwaste.
  • Identify effective ways of conveying information about packaging and the PACNZ Code of Practice for the Packaging of Consumer Goods and the complaints procedures it contains.

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.

Ensure all SCANZ members are informed about the Accord and its significance.

Explore use of the award to promote the Accord.

Continue to support PAC.NZ via active membership.

Encourage member companies to promote the Accord through in-house communications etc.

Report annually on Accord promotion initiatives.

 Years 1-5
JOINT

Work with other sectors to promote the Accord.

Target audiences:

  • signatories to the Accord (sector groups)
  • entire packaged goods industry (internal and external)
  • local government
  • central government
  • supply chain
  • media
  • consumers.

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. Companies to benchmark in-house waste minimisation initiatives against international best practice. Years 1-5
SECTOR Report the number/percentage of organisations with initiatives. Report annually on the percentage of members who have undertaken such reviews. Years 1-5
JOINT (no joint commitment)