Repak Recycling Awards 2006

Echoing the philosophy of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, 11 Awards were presented by the Minister of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr. Dick Roche TD - to schools, companies and local authorities - at the 2006 Repak Recycling Awards in the Four Seasons Hotel in Dublin.

Attended by over 300 people, the winners celebrated those who promoted excellence in recycling as part of Repak Recycling Week which - in 2006 - ran from Monday 2nd until Sunday 8th October. A total of over 60 nominations were received in 11 categories - encompassing local authorities, waste contractors, schools and Repak member companies.

The awards sponsors were all well known companies - KPMG, Arthur Cox, EPA, Tetra Pak (Ireland) Ltd, Rehab and the RPS Group. These organisations - through their sponsorship - all show a clear recognition of the importance of emerging environmental issues and are more than happy to be associated with the Repak Recycling Awards.

Mr Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak, thanked all those who supported the event, stating - "Repak Recycling Week, now in its sixth year, is making a significant contribution to raising the awareness of recycling at national level. Thanks to all our partners for making it such a success."

Mr. Dick Roche, T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government stated - "The people of Ireland have really taken recycling to heart. Our progress in this area in recent years has been remarkable - but new EU targets mean that we will have to do even better in future." The Minister went on to outline the real progress made in recent years - "Since the late 1990s, we have been making progress at an ever increasing pace. It's a case of letting the figures speak for themselves -

• In 2005, Repak helped fund over 28 additional kerbside schemes, reaching a further 366,000 households. Now, 822,000 households are served by a dry recycling scheme - this figure represents 55% of all households.
• 565,000 tonnes of of packaging was recovered in 2005 - representing c.64% of all packaging placed on the Irish market and marking a 17% increase on the same figure in 2004."

Batchelors won Repak Member of Year Award, Large Company, for not only recovering 95% of its cardboard, plastic and composites on site - but also achieving significant lightweighting of their cans for peas and beans. The lightweighting process requires less steel, tin and energy and - although hard to quantify, due to increasing costs of raw materials and energy - has resulted in significant monetary savings for Batchelors.

By moving from non-returnable to returnable long-neck bottles, Bulmers won Repak Best Practice Award - preventing 13 million bottles (2,925 tonnes of glass) from reaching the marketing in 2005 and saving €1.03m in material costs. The same initiative saved 81.25 tonnes of cardboard and 19.2 tonnes of plastic by replacing the tray and film with reusable crates. The dedicated environmental team in place at Bulmers also introduced a change from the PVC sleeve to one made with PET, which is recyclable in Ireland.

Technology company, Symantec won Repak Best Packaging Waste Prevention Initiative by introducing a environmental improvement programme that saved 568 tonnes of cardboard, 9.7 tonnes of paper and 17.8 tonnes of plastic in 2005. The paper and cardboard saved alone is the equivalent of almost 10,000 trees.

Wicklow County Council won Local Authority of the Year for the second time with Waterford County Council picking up the best Local Authority Initiative for its Dungarvan Material Recovery Facility project.

A joint winner last year, Ferrycarrig Hotel won Repak Best Practice Award Hospitality outright - building on its commitment to environmental initiatives. McDonald’s Swords (T/A Natline) and Eurospar, Lucan also picked up awards as prime examples of environmental best practice in the small/medium company and independent retail category.

The Repak Recovery Operator Of The Year, Large Company was won by Greenstar. The company collects and segregates all five packaging material types - glass, paper, plastic, steel and aluminium.

Connaught Waste Recycling Co. picked up the small waste contractor award and there was also a joint award for two schools - St Michael’s Boys NS, Mervue, Galway and Cranford NS, Letterkenny, Co Donegal.

The fifth Annual Repak Recycling Awards, took place in true style in Dublin's Four Seasons Hotel. Miriam O'Callaghan was the evening's MC and attendees included Minister of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dick Roche TD and former Tanaiste, Dick Spring. Mario Rosenstock wrapped up the evening with a well received sketch of his most well-known characters - Bertie, Roy Keane and Jose Mourinho.

Awards Winners

The finalists were - Batchelors Ltd; Symantec Ltd; Tetra Pak (Ireland) Ltd

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Batchelors Ltd.

In 2005, Batchelors achieved a recovery rate of 95% for cardboard, plastic and composites. In addition, working with their suppliers, Batchelors has achieved significant lightweighting of their cans for peas and beans. Lightweighting requires less steel, tin and energy in the can manufacturing process. It should be noted that lightweighting requires an application of critical design features to add strength to the lightweighted can to withstand handling, filling, processing and final transportation of the finished pack.

It is a long established, well-known and major indigenous food processing company, producing aseptically packed juices and canned pulses. Batchelors also imports and distributes a wide range of other brands.

Repak Best Packaging Waste Prevention Initiative (Sponsored by EPA)

The finalists were - Alcan Packaging Dublin; Symantec Ltd; Tetra Pak (Ireland ) Ltd.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Symantec Ltd

In 2005, as part of a committed environmental improvement programme, Symantec introduced 4 key initiatives that directly resulted in a reduction of packaging placed on the market worldwide. The new initiatives involved the operation of sales and maintenance electronically rather than physically. The initiatives prevented packaging by using On-Line Sales versus Physical Sales (88.7% on-line in 2005), issuing electronic licences instead of shipping physical licences (93% on-line in 2005), sending maintenance updates (product and license) electronically instead of via a physical CD (71% in 2005, 10% in 2004) and minimising packaging by shipping a single multi-lingual CD rather than multiple single language CDs.

Symantec Dublin is the 2nd company in Ireland - and the 12th company worldwide - to achieve ISO14001:2004 registration. There are currently 968 employees on site in Dublin.

The finalists were - Alcan Packaging Dublin; Bulmers Ltd; Lakeland Dairies Co-Operative Society Ltd.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Bulmers Ltd

Bulmers Ltd has shown extensive improvement in terms of packaging prevention, re-use and recycling during 2005. The company has continuously examined its supply chain and its manufacturing process to improve packaging and, where no alternative has been found, has sought to minimise the amount of packaging required and also looked to returnable reuse options. Five new initiatives to prevent packaging, introduced in 2005, resulted in preventing 133 tonnes of glass, 61.5 tonnes of plastic and 61.5 tonnes of cardboard going onto the market.

As a result, in 2006, they introduced a change from the PVC sleeve to one made with PET. Bulmers have an environmental team in place which continually looks to improve the waste management and increase recycling rates - which they have maintained at over 90% since 2003.

Bulmers Ltd is a member company of the Cantrell and Cochrane (C&C;) Group and is Ireland's only cider manufacturing company. The company's product portfolio includes Bulmers original cider, Bulmers Light, Magners original cider, Ritz, Stag and Britvic fruit juices. Bulmers Ireland Ltd and Grants of Ireland Ltd. employ 350 at their Annerville plant. The Grants of Ireland product portfolio includes Carolans Tullamore Dew, cream liqueur and Irish Mist.

The finalists were - Eurospar, Lucan; SuperValu Supermarket, (Caulfield/McCarthy Group) Bandon, Co. Cork; SuperValu Supermarket, (Barry Collins) Carrigaline, Co. Cork.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Eurospar, Lucan

In 2005, this store reduced the amount of packaging sent to landfill by 6.4%. Overall wastes sent for recycling declined by 16 tonnes, year-on-year, reflecting their aggressive emphasis on prevention as a first step in the recycling chain.

Repak Best Practice Award Small / Medium Company (Sponsored by the EPA)

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Natline Ltd (T/A McDonalds Swords)

The finalists were - Castleknock Hotel and Country Club; Ferrycarrig Hotel; Jurys Inn Cork.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Ferrycarrig Hotel

The finalists were - Cork County Council; Fingal County Council; Limerick County Council; Louth County Council; Wicklow County Council.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Wicklow County Council

Wicklow County Council has achieved the double - having been previous winner in 2003 of the Repak Local Authority Initiative and now winning Repak Local Authority of the Year. They have a proven track record in the promotion of Recycling through its Environmental Education and Awareness Programmes - hosting numerous composting workshops and 'slim your Bin' talks.

Repak Local Authority Initiative of the Year (Sponsored by RPS)

The finalists were - Cork City Council; Longford County Council; Offaly County Council; Roscommon County Council; Waterford County Council; Wexford County Council.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Waterford County Council - Dungarvan MRF

Waterford County Council has been awarded Repak Local Authority Initiative of the Year for the Dungarvan Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). This award is added to their achievement of Repak Local Authority of the Year award in 2004. This recycling initiative - undertaken in 2005 - consisted of the strategic planning, costing, commissioning and operation of a state-of-the-art Material Recovery Facility. The facility represents a major piece of recycling infrastructure, capable of catering for all dry recyclables arising in the South-East Waste Management Region. The EPA-licensed facility is uniquely owned, funded and operated by Waterford County Council. The MRF employs 14 staff and has the capacity to process up to 24,000 tonnes of dry recyclables per annum - from almost 70,000 households across the southeast region.

The finalists were - Advanced Environmental Solutions (Ireland) Ltd (AES); Clearpoint Recycling; Greenstar; Mr. Binman Ltd; Thorntons Recycling.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Greenstar

Established in the late 1990s, Greenstar is a leading provider of integrated waste management solutions. The company collects household, commercial, industrial and C&D; waste. Their larger commercial customers have onsite recycling facilities manned by Greenstar staff, which maximises the level of segregation. The company operates household kerbside dry recycable collection schemes and services both recycling centres and bring bank facilities on behalf of Local Authorities.

The finalists were - Connaught Waste Recycling Co. Ltd; Retech Processing Ltd.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Connaught Waste Recycling Co. Ltd

The company was the overall winner of the Repak Recovery Operator of the year Award in 2002. In 2005, the company embarked on a direct marketing campaign to source new material for recycling to replace tonnage lost to competitors.

The joint winners of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) were St Michael's Boys NS, Galway & Cranford NS, Co. Donegal

Both schools were amongst some of the first applicants for the Green Schools program back in 1997.

Minister Roche paid tribute to the Award winners - "Government sets the policy. Repak and local authorities, in large part, implement it. But it is the individual businesses - that go the extra mile to prevent, minimise, reuse and recycle packaging - that are setting the standard - and they usually save money doing it. I congratulate them - one and all - for their efforts in relation to recycling in the past year."

Repak

Repak is a not-for-profit members-based packaging compliance scheme - currently Ireland's only producer responsibility scheme - which was established under a voluntary agreement between industry and the Department of the Environment and Local Government in 1997.

It was created as industry's response to the obligations placed on Ireland by the EU directive on Packaging Waste (94/62/EC) and is the only government-approved compliance scheme under the Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations 1997.

Repak succeeded in reaching - and exceeding - Ireland's National Recycling Target of 25% of packaging waste in 2001 and 50% in 2005 - as set by the EU directive.

Repak runs a variety of educational initiatives - such as the Repak Recycling Week in October, the Repak Green Christmas and the Repak National Conference. It is also a sponsor of An Taisce's National Spring Clean campaign, the Tidy Towns Competition and the schools-based Repak Cash for Cans programme.

Repak membership fees are used to subsidise the collection of used packaging in Ireland, through the network of 2,200 bring banks, over 90 recycling centres and household kerbside collection schemes - which reach in excess 822,000 Irish households.

Since its establishment, Repak members have invested over €90 million in subsidising recycling activities in Ireland and, in 2005, recycled c.64% of all packaging placed on the Irish market.