Golden Circle picked up two awards at the inaugural Packaging Evolution Awards held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in September 2006.
Winning both awards was an excellent achievement for the company and highlights the fact that sustainability is a cornerstone priority for the business.
The Best Action Plan award was particularly well received as the plan detailed many packaging waste reductions that Golden Circle realised, in addition to setting baseline targets for future improvements in relation to product stewardship responsibilities, as detailed by the Environmental Code of Practice for Packaging.
Golden Circle already had a proactive culture in relation to staff environmental awareness on-site, but winning the awards raised staff awareness substantially.
All staff contribute to reducing the environmental impact of Golden Circle’s activities, including the reduction of packaging waste.
Golden Circle leadership in environmental management has also been recognised by the Australian Institute of Packaging, which selected Golden Circle for a recent seminar on Plastics in Packaging where biodegradable plastic packaging and new developments in polymers were discussed, among other issues.
Golden Circle has also been commissioned to present a case study on its achievements under the National Packaging Covenant at several seminars including the Annual Environment Conference of the Local Government Association of Queensland, as well as at the Sustainable Packaging Alliance meeting scheduled for June 2007.
This industry recognition serves to underline the heightened public awareness of Golden Circle’s packaging waste reduction achievements originating from winning the awards.
Waste management achievements
Not content to rest on its achievements since winning the awards, Golden Circle has continued to seek improvements in packaging waste minimisation.
These efforts include colour-coding of all skips on-site ensures all staff are aware that solid waste streamlining is part of the overall reduction to landfill objectives and all staff know what waste to put in each skip.
Segregation of recyclable material from general waste occurs via a colour-coded system consisting of red for general waste, yellow for plastic, white for paper/cardboard, dark blue for metal and green for food waste.
Recycling beyond the colour-coded system takes place for glass, aluminium cans and recycled oil among others.
This has reduced the volume of waste sent to landfill substantially in the past year.
Golden Circle is now sourcing all of the PET containers with 25% recycled content as part of the Environmental Purchasing Policy.
A site-wide conversion to 25% recycled PET is expected to be in place by the end of 2007.
Golden Circle is committed to managing its operations in an environmentally responsible manner at all times.
Submission of applications for various awards, including the Evolution Awards, is one way of raising staff and public awareness about the green credentials of the company and Golden Circle looks forward to submitting an application to the 2nd annual Evolution Awards.
Golden Circle was also selected as a finalist in the Queensland EPA Sustainable Industries Awards for its work on developing an integrated environmental management system specifically tailored for pineapple growers.
These awards took place on 21 May 2007.
This year's Evolution Awards, in which Golden Circle is a finalist, will be presented at a breakfast ceremony on September 12th.
Add a comment