Accord Annual Report 2008

The spotlight has continued on the plastic bag reduction campaign. The New Zealand Retailers Association approached leading retailers to gain wider industry support and, as a result, Caltex and Mitre10 have adopted the Make a Difference branding. Other retailers have initiated their own plastic bag reduction programmes.

Since 2004 supermarkets, Foodstuffs and Progressive Enterprises, along with general merchandise and grocery retailer, The Warehouse, have:

reduced plastic bag consumption by 14%, taking 99 million bags out of use each year; and
achieved an overall 20% reduction in the amount of plastic used, which is the equivalent of 30 million 2-litre drinks containers each year.

Individual initiatives by the retailers to galvanise public support for using reusable shopping bags include the launch of an eco bag by fashion designer Trelise Cooper, on sale at Progressive Enterprises supermarkets, and a reward campaign by Foodstuffs, in New World stores across the lower North Island, giving extra Fly Buys points for customers bringing in their own shopping bags.

The Warehouse has partnered with Enviroreel Plastics to develop new products using recovered plastics including plastic bags.

The Food and Grocery Council (FGC) reports that more than 50% of FGC members supplying products in New Zealand now belong to the Accord directly or through their involvement with the Glass Packaging Forum. Those not involved directly are encouraged by the FGC’s Sustainability Group to participate in waste minimisation and product stewardship. In a survey of member companies about their sustainability performance, two thirds say that they have developed and implemented a waste minimisation and resource recovery strategy but this number includes smaller businesses (SMEs) who are more focused on areas that will achieve cost reduction, such as energy use.

The Environmental Business Action Group (EBAG) once again enjoyed a summer of involvement in high profile events such as the Ellerslie Flower Show, Coca-Cola Christmas in the Park and Auckland Round the Bays, with the jewel in the crown being the WOMAD event held in Taranaki in March. Viewed in the New Zealand events industry as a pioneering project, WOMAD set a precedent in waste minimisation achieving an outstanding 86% diversion of waste to landfill.

The Taranaki Arts Festival Trust said: ‘Zero Waste at WOMAD in the first year achieved outstanding success which we can attribute to the contribution made by EBAG and we hope to have the opportunity to work with EBAG again in the future.’

EBAG collated its work and achievements over the last three years into a portfolio of examples which it entered into the Green Ribbon Awards and the Manukau Business Excellence Awards. Its groundbreaking work on public-place recycling has now been taken up by a project group led by the Executive Committee of the Packaging Council in recognition of the expanded scope and resourcing required to implement this nationwide initiative.

A strategic review of EBAG during the latter part of the year has re-energised the group with a particular focus on business to business/supply chain collaboration.