At SKOPE, we are on a sustainability journey. Within the Responsible Production section of our Sustainability Plan, we have committed to improving our packaging. As part of this commitment, we have joined the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO). APCO is in charge of managing and administering the Australian Packaging Covenant (the Covenant), which is a national regulatory framework under the National Environment Protection (Used Packaging Materials) Measure 2011 (NEPM). This framework defines the collective responsibility shared by governments and businesses across Australia in managing the environmental impact of packaging. In short, this is to ensure a circular economy for packaging in Australia.
As APCO members we work towards the collective targets of:
- 100% of packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable
- 70% of plastic packaging recycled or composted
- 50% average recycled content across all packaging
- Phase out of problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic packaging
Our products are mostly large, heavy and fragile, so packaging them securely to minimise damage in transit is complex. This complexity means we need to work hard on evolving our approach in order to meet our commitment to Australia’s National Packaging Targets, and New Zealand’s voluntary packaging guidelines.
As a first step, we are working on APCO’s “Phase out: problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic packaging” target. For example, this includes expanded plastics like polystyrene (EPS), as they are a known source of pollution. These plastics are lightweight so are easily wind-blown, escaping waste management systems and entering the environment. Once in the environment, they easily break down into smaller pieces of plastic, polluting land, water and entering the food chain. Even if they are contained in the waste management system, they are hard to recycle and often contaminate other recycling streams.
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is very useful to provide lightweight cushioning to our products during transit. So, in order to remove this problematic plastic, we needed to explore an alternative that also provided enough padding, without adding weight. Lightweight options are important, as extra weight adds more carbon emissions during transportation. We looked to other industries for solutions and have observed that honeycomb cardboard is often used. It is relatively lightweight, fibre-based (rather than plastic-based) and there is robust infrastructure for recycling of it.
We have a number of sources of EPS (and similar expanded plastic). EPS sheets are used to protect the sides of large completed cabinets. We successfully trialled honeycomb cardboard sheets as a direct replacement. From that trial, we’ve been able to remove EPS from approximately 70% of our SKOPE branded, ITV and Irinox completed products.
Expanded plastics are also used in our door packaging. These protect the doors from hitting each other and causing damage to the glass or framing, during transit. We worked directly with our supplier to look at alternatives and they are now shipped with cardboard corners which hold the doors apart, providing cushioning during shipping.
The Sustainable Packaging Guidelines, supplied by APCO, are key to ensuring that our decisions work within the waste and recycling system within Australia. We will be reviewing our packaging ongoing, in order to continually find areas of improvement.
Sustainable packaging is something we can all work on and learn from each other.