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Media Snippets 2010

 

35,000 Glass Bottles Recycled at 11 MoreFM Winery Shows

After 11 shows in this year's MOREFM Winery Tour, the Glass Packaging Forum has collected the equivalent of 13,000 wine bottles and 22,500 beer bottles from around 20,000 people. These glass bottles will be recycled into new glass containers by the Auckland based glass manufacturer OI.

At each concert the audience is reminded from the stage how important it is to preserve the beautiful location and environment and how recycling helps do this. The Forum promotes recycling under the Love NZ brand as part of a nationwide $3million public place recycling initiative funded by local and central government and the Forum.

John Webber, General Manager of the Glass Packaging Forum said that clear identification of recycling bins is imperative:

"It is an immense undertaking to collect and recycle 35,000 glass bottles from just under 20,000 concertgoers. It's not enough to install recycling bins, they need to be clearly marked, accessible and then people must be encouraged and even inspired to use the right bins. That's why using positive endorsement from the Stage is so important. Our message to the audience is simple - we want people to realize that bottles don't recycle themselves - it takes people to put them in the correct bin."

"However education takes time. To make sure glass does get recycled after the concert is over the Glass Packaging Forum has organised teams from community groups to separate glass bottles by colour including any that have been left on the ground and put them in the appropriate recycling bins. Our members include wine, beer and soft drinks manufacturers who want to make sure that their products get recycled so we see this as part of our role as an organization."

"It is disappointing however that the Glass Packaging Forum is the only packaging organization which is committed to increasing public place recycling. We work closely with local councils and community network recyclers and we understand their frustration that the packaging industry as a whole apparently believes that their responsibility for packaging ends at the retailer or is dealt with by the local authority domestic collections . "

"Because we were concerned about not recycling plastic and cans, this year with funding from the Love NZ campaign, we have also provided recycling bins for plastic and cans and are pleased that we have been able to recover around 5000 cans and a similar number of plastic bottles from the 11 shows. However a disappointingly large number of these mixed recycling bins were heavily contaminated because people are unsure what can be recycled and include cutlery, cups and shrink wrap along with their contents!"

"The Love NZ public place recycling campaign is about installing infrastructure and educating people. Whilst people know what can be recycled at home, it is a different story when they are out and about. We will keep the national message simple and encourage people to recycle their plastic drinks containers and aluminium cans because everyone knows what these are! "

John Webber, Glass Packaging Forum

The MoreFM Winery Tour ended on 5th March at Villa Maria Estate in Auckland.

About The MORE FM Winery Tour

New Zealand's favourite songbird Brooke Fraser headlined the MORE FM Winery Tour 2011 summer series along with an all male entourage: chart-topping four-piece band OPSHOP and the popular Auckland rock band, Midnight Youth.

Now in its fifth year, the popularity of the MORE FM Winery Tour has seen the run more than double since its inception in 2007; now 19 shows nationwide, adding Dunedin and Cromwell to the existing shows in Matakana, Tutukaka, Auckland, Hamilton, Gisborne, Havelock North, Martinborough, Palmerston North, New Plymouth, Tauranga, Taupo, Upper Motuere (Nelson), Blehhiem and Waipara (Christchurch).

For more information on the MORE FM Winery Tour see www.thewinerytour.co.nz.

Contacts:

John Webber, General Manager: 021 949 215
Lyn Mayes, Communications: 021 471 261

 

Glass Bottles Can't Recycle Themselves is the Message at MoreFM Winery Tour

The Glass Packaging Forum (the Forum) is back on the road with the MOREFM Winery Tour with plans to exceed last year's recycling haul of 84,000 glass bottles. The 19 shows start on Friday 4th February at Ascension Wine Estate in Matakana, near Warkworth and wrap up back in Auckland at the Villa Maria Estate in March with a nationwide tour of 16 locations along the way.

These spectacular events present Brooke Fraser, OPSHOP and Midnight Youth.

At each concert the audience will be reminded how important it is to preserve the beautiful location and environment and how recycling helps do this. The Forum will promote recycling under the Love NZ brand as part of a nationwide $3million public place recycling initiative funded by local and central government and the Forum. John Webber, General Manager of the Glass Packaging Forum said that supporting the MORE FM Winery Tour last year has helped develop the right framework for public place recycling:

"It is an immense undertaking to collect and recycle 84,000 glass bottles from concertgoers. It's not enough to install recycling bins, they need to be clearly marked, accessible and then people need to be encouraged and even inspired to use the right bins. That's why using positive endorsement from the Stage is so important. Since last year we have taken on the management of the Government owned Love NZ brand and we will start to roll this out at the More FM Winery Tour concerts prior to a major campaign ahead of and during the Rugby World Cup. "

"In addition to providing separate glass recycling bins and encouraging colour separation of glass, there will be mixed recycling bins for cans and plastic. Our message to the audience is simple - we want people to realize that bottles don't recycle themselves - it takes people to put them in the correct bin!"

"We are disappointed that the glass industry has to drive events' recycling yet again but in the absence of funding from other sectors we have taken on the provision of recycling bins for plastic and cans because otherwise these would have to be put in the rubbish bins."

"Away from home New Zealanders consume around 129 million glass bottles, 76 million cans and 400 million litre plastic drinks bottles each year. That's a lot of packaging much of which can be easily recycled if facilities are in place and people know what they can recycle and where. The More FM winery tour is going to make it easy for people to do that."

"During 2011 we are going to assist with the installation of around 2000 permanent and temporary Love NZ bins to ensure glass recycling facilities are in place not just for New Zealanders but for over 85,000 visitors including 2,500 of the world's media who expect to be able to recycle."

About The MORE FM Winery Tour

New Zealand's favourite songbird Brooke Fraser will headline the MORE FM Winery Tour 2011 summer series along with an all male entourage: chart-topping four-piece band OPSHOP and the popular Auckland rock band, Midnight Youth.

Now in its fifth year, the popularity of the MORE FM Winery Tour has seen the run more than double since its inception in 2007; now 19 shows nationwide, adding Dunedin and Cromwell to the existing shows in Matakana, Tutukaka, Auckland, Hamilton, Gisborne, Havelock North, Martinborough, Palmerston North, New Plymouth, Tauranga, Taupo, Upper Motuere (Nelson), Blehhiem and Waipara (Christchurch).

For more information on the MORE FM Winery Tour see www.thewinerytour.co.nz.

Contacts:

John Webber, General Manager: 021 949 215
Lyn Mayes, Communications: 021 471 261

 

Annual General Meeting 2009

  

On Wednesday 12th August 2009 the Glass Packaging Forum held its 3rd Annual General Meeting at Ellerslie Event Centre in Greenlane, Auckland.

David Carter, the Chairman in welcoming the guests noted the presence of Sheryl Stivens, Ian Featherson, Warwick Jaine all of whom have agreed to be part of the Glass Forum’s Advisory Board under its Product Stewardship Scheme. Apologies had been received from Chris Pepper and Neil MacKenize-Hall who are also members of the Forum’s Advisory Board. David commented on the successful 64% recovery rate for glass over the last year and thanked the Steering Committee Members for their contributions. He noted that the political landscape had changed since the last AGM.

John Webber, the General Manager reported on the last year’s activities and those issues he felt would be of importance over the coming twelve months as the Forum develops procedures supporting its Product Stewardship Scheme which was being developed for submission to Government.

Rob FenwickThe highlights of the afternoon were an address by Rob Fenwick, Chairman of the Government’s Waste Advisory Board clarifying its role in support of the new Waste Minimisation Act and a DVD presentation on the first Pick it Up Concert with Che Fu and other artists.

Click here to download a copy of Rob Fenwick's speech. [47KB pdf]

The Chairman and all Members of the Steering Committee were re elected as officers of the Forum.

 

Pick It Up Concert 2

PICK IT UP New Zealand is a nationwide, public education programme which highlights the positive role of packaging, responsible disposal of packaging waste, recycling, reuse and litter. The programme aims to change the attitudes and behaviour of New Zealanders as to how they view waste as well as promoting individual responsibility towards the upkeep and maintenance of our environment.

PICK IT UP New Zealand invites other sectors of the community to investigate the opportunity of becoming a partner in this social responsibility/environmental programme.

For further information please contact Project Manager, Deb Statham – 021 706 455 or 07 839 7211.

Fresh from the outstanding success of the inaugural Pick it Up Youth Concert in July, Dawn Raid and the Glass Packaging Forum announced a SECOND CONCERT for OCTOBER 1st this year.

Joining the bill were multi-platinum selling artists Nesian Mystik and Scribe who shared the stage with J. Williams, Savage, DJ Sir-Vere, Sweet & Sour, DZIAH, Anonymouz, Devolo, Sweet and Irie and Che Fu. This was truly a line up of the ‘who’s who’ in New Zealand urban music and was a very rare opportunity to see all these artists for a mere $10.00.

Dance Crew Battle

A new addition to the October concert was a Dance Crew Battle. Fresh from World Hip Hop International Dance Competition in Las Vegas, World Champion dance crew Sweet & Sour prepared for their biggest challenge to date, that is to battle dance crew DZIAH. With $1000 prize money to be won, they took it back to the streets by letting the crowd response decide who won.

At the time they said ‘We are looking forward to the battle with DZIAH and to be on the stage as Scribe/Savage/Nesian Mystics is a privilege and honour for us. And to promote the message of ‘Pick It Up’ when it comes to all rubbish, is a big thing for us as we are the next generation. The battle to be judged by crowd response is gonna be insane, so all you Sweet & Sour fans make sure you all come out 1st Oct and support’’ says Hadleigh from Sweet & Sour.  

Over 3,000 kids filled the Telstraclear Pacific Centre in Manukau on 8th July for the very first Pick It Up Youth Concert. The gig was created especially for the under 18’s by Dawn Raid and the Glass Packaging Forum, who wanted to produce a school holiday event in a safe environment with a family friendly ticket price. Pick It Up, the youth brand initiated by the GPF, is focused on teaching the younger generation about recycling and caring for your environment.

John Webber, Managing Director of the GPF says: “The first PICK IT UP concert was a resounding success. Our aim was to encourage young people to recycle by getting some of New Zealand’s most well known musicians to deliver the message.  This was more than achieved with thousands of drinks bottles recycled on the night and people leaving the concert chanting Che Fu’s plea to ‘recycle, recycle’.  The Glass Packaging Forum will continue to support PICK IT UP because we believe it is a major part of our product stewardship scheme.”

Andy Murnane from Dawn Raid agrees:
" Anybody that knows Dawn Raid, will tell you that we love our community and PICK IT UP was the perfect event to seamlessly combine a youth focused recycling message with world class local entertainment. Dawn Raid music is a firm believer in the PICK IT UP brand and it's significance to youth in New Zealand, we look forward to the next event and taking the show national in 2010."

Thanks to sponsors Coca Cola and the Manukau City Council who helped make the second gig a reality.

 

Product Stewardship 2009

As signaled, the Ministry for the Environment has released its discussion document on Waste Minimisation in New Zealand to which the Forum will, if appropriate, be responding.

While the consultation process is yet to be undertaken the Steering Committee is confident that our programme is in line with that which is likely to be required.

Of particular interest is Part 2 : Identifying Products That Are Priorities for Product Stewardship. See the Ministry for the Environment website.

Public meeting held to discuss options for developing a Packaging Product Stewardship Scheme to succeed the second Packaging Accord which expires in June 2009.

The purpose of the public meeting held on the 26 February in Auckland, and to which members of the Glass Forum attended, was to open the door to the wider community and invite a wide range of views on the most effective, economically viable packaging product stewardship model for New Zealand with the aim of minimising the environmental impact of packaging and improving packaging recovery rates, within the framework of the new Waste Minimisation Act.

Click here to download a Product Stewardship overview from Tony Nowell, Chair of the Accord Governing Board.

The Glass Forum will keep its members regularly updated as to ongoing discussions/debate surrounding a product stewardship scheme or schemes.

2010 UPDATE

May 2010 - The Forum's programme of work has now received accreditation as a voluntary product stewardship scheme under the Waste Minimisation Act (2008). It is the first packaging scheme to receive accreditation and is the 2nd product stewardship scheme for any product or industry to be accredited under the Act.
To understand further what is required under the Glass Product Stewardship Scheme please click here....

 

2009 Packaging Awards

This year's Environmental Packaging Awards entries closed on the 29th May and the Awards presentation dinner was held at the Hilton Hotel Auckland on the 4th September.

'Closing the Loop' was the theme and the ten categories, plus the Supreme Award, span the whole packaging lifecycle, promoting the vital role that packaging plays in our modern society, in the growth of our economy and in minimising waste throughout the supply chain.

GPF award entryThe Glass Packaging Forum, a member of the Packaging Council of New Zealand, submitted an entry on behalf of its members entitled “RAP’N IT UP FOR RECYCLING”, an overview of the highly successful 2008 national education competition targeting school students aged 8-15 - the Class Rap – Name the Crusher Competition with Che Fu.

This entry WON the "McDONALD'S SCHOOLS EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME ENCOURAGING REDUCE/REUSE/RECYCLING AWARD. Visit the Packaging Council website for more information about the awards and our entry.

 

Crushing Options - More Flexibility Provided

While the Forum’s mobile crusher has certainly assisted in providing support to a number of Local Authorities and Community Recyclers involved in processing recovered glass, it has become apparent that there are many further opportunities which could be addressed with an even smaller machine that would also provide a finer finished product.

As a result Silaca Crushers, operators of the ‘mobile crusher’, have designed and developed a unit which sits on a skip bin or trailer, that can be manually feed, and as a result provide colour separated glass. This is an inexpensive unit that will allow for purchase by local operators, who will then be able to deal with incoming collections without the need to store in volume before processing.

 

Mobile Crusher Launched at Parliament

In order to assist in facilitating local councils to crush glass at a reasonable cost, the Forum has purchased a mobile crusher which will be operated in conjunction with Silaca Crushers Ltd and which can be hired by making an application.

The Hon. David Parker, Minister for the Environment officially launched the Glass Packaging Forum's Mobile Crusher at Parliament on the 9th October. This was preceded by a brief function supported by 6 Politicians, Mayor of Porirua, Jenny Brash and a further 40 invited guests.

After formal speeches from the Minister, Nandor Tanczos for the Green party, David Carter- Chairman for the Forum and Donald Nelson representing Lion Nathan (sponsor), children from Thorndon Primary School joined the party to watch the Minister officially christen the machine. The party was able to inspect the material produced by the machine in a range of particle sizes 9.5mm to 19mm and the Children were able to view the crusher for which a 'Naming Competition' was announced. All schools of New Zealand incorporating Years 1 - 8 will be invited to present possible names as suggested by the pupils and the successful school will receive a prize of $1000.00 to support a specific school activity.

The crusher itself will be travelling initially through the South Island processing those stockpiles of glass requiring crushing.

John Webber interview on Radio New Zealand

Facts about the Glass Crusher [800KB]


Truck and Crusher

Hon. David Parker expressing his support glass crushing programme.
Nandor
Nandor Tanczos - Green Party Environmental spokesperson giving his assessment of the Forums initiative.

David Carter, Chairman of the Glass Packaging Forum outlines the Forum's establishment of the Glass Crushing programme.

Donald Nelson (Lion Nathan - Sponsor of the crusher), David Parker (Minister for the Environment) and David Carter (Chairman of Glass Packaging Forum) discuss samples of the glass processed by the new crusher.

Nick Smith National Party spokesman for the Environment has his questions answered by Glass Packaging Forum's General Manager John Webber

Donald Nelson representing Lion Nathan explains the crushing and glass making processes to the Thorndon School Children.

 

 

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Media Snippets Archive

Media Snippets 2009

Media Snippets2008
Class Rap Competition

Glass Matters

Media Snippets 2007

 

Glass Forum News Archive

Glass Forum News 2009

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Glass Forum News 2007

Product Stewardship Scheme Accredited

19 May 2010

Minister for the Environment, the Hon. Dr Nick Smith congratulates the Glass Packaging Forum as the first packaging sector to achieve accreditation status for their Glass Product Stewardship Programme more »

Product Stewardship Definition

Product stewardship moves responsibility for waste to those involved in the production and supply of the product (and its packaging) and indirectly to the consumer by ensuring the costs of its disposal are reflected in the purchase price. It involves those who know the most about the product - the businesses who make and sell it- in designing the solution.

Ministry for the Environment's
"A Guide to Product Stewardship"

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