Amcor leads the way to sustainability
Amcor, a leading global packaging manufacturer, is leading the way and helping other major businesses become more sustainable through its association with the Buy Recycled Business Alliance (BRBA).

Amcor, along with other leaders in the industry, founded the BRBA in 1999 as a business-led initiative that would provide a forum to promote greater uptake of recycled content products (RCPs) across Australia.

David Brookes, General Manager of Public Affairs at Amcor and Director of the BRBA, said that founding the BRBA helped fulfil Amcor’s commitment to environmental responsibility.

“Amcor acknowledges that its operations and products have an environmental impact. We recognise that we have a responsibility towards governments, our customers and our host community to minimise the environmental impact of our activities,” he said.

“In line with the BRBA’s objectives, Amcor has worked for many years to increase the amount of RCPs in its packaging products. Many of our products have 100% recycled content,” Brookes said.

As one of the Directors of the BRBA Board, Brookes sees substantial benefits of being part of the Alliance.

“The BRBA is a great forum for sharing practices with other businesses. It’s an opportunity to learn and hear from others about what initiatives they are implementing within their businesses in relation to buying recycled. We are also able to share what we have learnt in this area with other organisations,” Brookes said.

According to Brookes, the BRBA is constantly looking at new ways to develop more services for its members.

“At the BRBA, we help members identify where they can buy recycled content material and we are also in the process of developing a new initiative, a national database of RCPs which will facilitate wider uptake and provide specific information on the products. This Database will be a very useful tool for members of the BRBA like Amcor,” Brookes said.

Amcor participated in the BRBA ‘Buy Recycled’ Coach Program, an initiative whereby members are ‘coached’ in buy recycled principles and practices. The Program supports the BRBA’s emphasis on moving from theory to practice by providing members with hands-on experience.

“The BRBA Coach Program was very beneficial for Amcor. We looked at our procurement policy and system and as a direct result, we were able to identify key elements that were missing and introduce specific requirements. For example, our contracts now have clauses which require review of our suppliers and recycled content in their products,” Brookes said.

“Amcor is looking to undertake another Coach Program in conjunction with the BRBA to review our performance and look for opportunities to improve. Our Purchasing and Logistics group as well as our Environment department would both participate in the sessions,” he said.

The Buy Recycled Business Alliance (BRBA) is a non profit pro-sustainability alliance of businesses that are united by a commitment to promote the purchase and use of recycled content products (RCPs) and materials, which strongly contributes to corporate sustainability.

Foundation members of the BRBA include Amcor, McDonalds, Visy Industries, Foster’s Group, Corporate Express, Fuji Xerox and Australian Paper.

For more information on the BRBA, please visit www.brba.com.au or call 1300 662 593.

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Released for the Buy Recycled Business Alliance by Dennis Rutzou Public Relations (www.drpr.com.au). 
For further information please call Fiona Pennington or Kim Larochelle on
(02) 9413 4244.