The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation has released the July schedule for its weekly community webinar series. Launched at the start of the Covid-19 lockdown, the webinar series has been designed to keep the sustainable packaging community connected and engaged – and has so far attracted more than 2200 participants.
Topics for discussion in July will include a data deep dive into packaging material flows in Australia, a designer’s guide to the circular economy and sustainable packaging, an introduction to life cycle assessments methodologies, and a look at the rise of sustainable investment in Australia.
APCO will also be hosting a session exploring how a behaviour science approach can help to deliver better environmental outcomes around plastic.
Brooke Donnelly, APCO CEO, said the webinars are a weekly forum to reconnect, learn and debate the issues that our community cares most about.
“It’s fantastic to see that, even during such unusual circumstances, the APCO community is keen to continue growing their collective understanding of the circular economy and sustainable packaging best practice. We look forward to seeing even more of you in July,” Donnelly said.
Plastic Free July
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Plastic Free July, APCO has developed a resource toolkit to showcase positive action being taken on plastic packaging. The kit contains the latest plastic packaging statistics and 15 case studies showcasing organisations that are championing issues like single-use plastic avoidance and phase out, reusable packaging, community education and recycled content.
Organisations highlighted include Responsible Cafes, Cove by Natures Organics, CHEP Australia, Loop, REDcycle, Plastic Police, Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive, THE ICONIC, Plastic Free Communities, Take 3 For the Sea and Operation Clean Sweep. A range of APCO-led initiatives are also highlighted, including the ANZPAC program, the Australasian Recycling Label Program and FY21 Priority Projects addressing plastic packaging.
Brooke Donnelly said APCO is committed to developing a better approach to plastic packaging in Australia.
“We recognise that plastic packaging plays an important role in reducing food waste, managing hazardous goods and protecting life-saving medicine. However, plastic packaging is primarily made from finite resources and the way we manage it at end-of-life has poor environmental outcomes on land and in our oceans - which must be remedied,” Donnelly said.
“Plastic Free July is the perfect opportunity to focus on positive solutions to the plastic packaging challenge. We have developed our new Plastic Free July toolkit to recognise some of the good work and innovation already being delivered – and highlight a range of tangible ways that consumers, businesses and governments can drive practical action in their own community.”
Details on July webinars, including links to register, are available on the APCO website.
The APCO Plastic Free July toolkit is available to download here.
