APCO & GIA National Product Stewardship Success
Today, it has been announced that APCO in partnership with GIA have been approved for funding to implement the PoPPr Program to establish a national recovery and recycling program for Polypropylene Plant Packaging, including plant pots, trays, tags and stakes .
Through a partnership with industry peak-body, Greenlife Industry Australia, and support from allied organisations including Horticulture Innovation and the Landscape Association, APCO will work closely with the horticultural sector across Australia on the design and implementation of an industry-endorsed network of collection points for plant packaging.
This will enable Australians to return their plant packaging for recycling into new plant packaging and close the loop on horticultural Polypropylene.
Greenlife Industry Australia would like to acknowledge the leadership of Matthew Mills of Garden City Plastics in progressing the pot recycling initiative on behalf of industry.
‘Having become involved in this initiative a year ago, after a conversation with APCO member, Garden City Plastics, I am so proud to have worked with GCP and the Greenlife Industry Australia team to help bring this idea to life,’ said Jayne Paramor, Sustainability Manager at APCO.
‘The enormous commitment and collaborative approach that I’ve seen across the Greenlife sector has been inspirational in developing the submission. This, combined with the strong endorsement from the Federal Government, through their decision to fund the project, demonstrate the impact this program will have on closing the loop for polypropylene plant packaging in Australia.’
Matt Mills of Garden City Plastics said the company is very proud to have been part of the great work that GIA and APCO have done on this important submission.
‘This project will help our wonderful industry lead others by example of our sector wide commitment to recycling Horticultural polypropylene containers. At GCP we remain exited to be an ongoing driving force for innovative increases in recycled polypropylene use and reuse saving millions of kilograms per year from Australian landfill,’ said Matt.
The project scheduled to commence in January 2021 however, the industry continues to move forward with engagement activities which seek to inform the early stages of the project.
Industry Workshop: 24 November
The October workshop covered a lot of important ground and the output of that meeting are available below.
- Workshop summary report – including next steps
- Updated Project Plan incorporating workshop feedback
- Polypropylene Packaging Value Chain map, based on workshop feedback and post-workshop follow up.
We are also pleased to confirm the next workshop on November 24 th and invite you to join us. We will:
- Provide an important update on progress with the National Product Stewardship Investment Funding submission in support of the PoPPr Program,
- review the revised project plan and the Packaging Value Chain mapping attachments included here to confirm that we have captured the feedback accurately,
- Confirm the next steps towards initiating the project in January 2021.
We look forward to seeing you on Zoom on Tuesday, November 24 th at 11am.
Please register here and connection details will be provided on completion of your registration.