In December 2018, the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) Annual Reporting Tool went live to all APCO members, allowing them to start answering questions to the new Annual Reporting Tool. Over 1,000 Australian organisations will be required to complete their Annual Report by 31 March each year and submit an Action Plan soon after.
This project was developed over two phases throughout the previous 12 months. During the first phase, ISF and Dr Helen Lewis jointly developed a framework for assessing and scoring packaging sustainability across different organisations. The tool was designed to provide maximum flexibility to the needs of different organisations, whilst also adopting the principles of affirmative action to encourage and support organisations in making better sustainability decisions.
The Reporting Tool consists of 13 criteria split into three categories: Leadership, Outcomes and Processes. Of the 13 criteria, six are core to the reporting process, while seven are recommended. Each criteria consists of five levels ranging from Getting Started (Level 1) to Beyond Best Practice (Level 5). All organisations must answer core criteria, and are strongly encouraged to answer recommended criteria if it is relevant to their organisation.
The tool scores each organisation and provides recommendations on how to progress against each criteria. The Annual Reporting Tool therefore provides a systematic process for assessing packaging sustainability, and provides a new set of data and information to APCO to better assist organisations in achieving packaging sustainability in the areas that will have the largest impact. The tool provides three customised reports for each organisation:
The Performance Summary Report shows each organisation’s performance against the APC’s Packaging Sustainability Framework.
The Benchmarking Report enables each organisation to compare their organisation’s performance against other organisations in the same sector.
The Annual Report and Action Plan includes summary information on each organisation’s performance with information submitted by the organisation on how they are aiming to progress against each packaging sustainability criteria.
As at February 2021, the tool and framework are in use by 1,000 APCO members for annual reporting, enabling consistent collection of national packaging data for the first time in Australia and tracking progress on national packaging goals.
Researchers
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Helen LewisAdjunct Professor
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Research Director -
Research Consultant
Years
- 2017-2019
Client
- Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO)
Services and capabilities
Sustainability Transformations
Monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment
