2004-05 Annual Report - Australia Post
2004-05 Annual Report - Australia Post
2004-05 Annual Report - Australia Post
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4<br />
5<br />
MORE THAN AN<br />
ENVIRONMENTAL<br />
SOLUTION<br />
Faced with a growing operational<br />
and environmental problem, this year<br />
our Mail & Networks Division (M&ND)<br />
developed an innovative recycling<br />
solution that is delivering benefits for<br />
the environment, for the community<br />
and for our business.<br />
1<br />
2<br />
3<br />
4<br />
5<br />
Each year about a million disposable plastic<br />
bags arrive at our international gateway facilities<br />
carrying important mail from all over the world.<br />
(The disposable bags were introduced several<br />
years ago by overseas postal administrations<br />
to eliminate the expense and time involved in<br />
returning reusable bags to their country of origin.)<br />
With such a vast quantity of disposable bags<br />
entering our network, their storage was beginning<br />
to absorb valuable time, space and equipment.<br />
This operational concern meant that we faced the<br />
need to find an environmentally responsible, and<br />
sustainable, way to dispose of the bags.<br />
After 18 months of consultation and hard<br />
work, the Network Optimisation Unit in M&ND<br />
implemented an innovative solution to the<br />
problem this year. The first step in the solution<br />
involves transporting the mail bags to Brunswick<br />
Industries Association Inc. (BIA), a Victorian<br />
workshop that provides employment for people<br />
with disabilities.<br />
<strong>Post</strong> assisted BIA in purchasing a baling machine,<br />
so the company’s employees can bale up the<br />
plastic bags ready for recycling. The bales are<br />
then sold on to a plastics company that arranges<br />
their recycling. (In recognition of the great work<br />
done by BIA, <strong>Post</strong> is donating all money earned<br />
from the sale of the material to charity.)<br />
Through this process, the disposable plastic<br />
bags are being recycled into a range of products,<br />
including buckets, pot plant holders and the<br />
ubiquitous red, white and blue shopping bags<br />
that are sold around the world. It’s a solution that<br />
(on top of the operational and community benefits)<br />
is saving 45 tonnes of waste per year from going<br />
into landfill.<br />
<strong>Australia</strong> <strong>Post</strong> <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2004</strong>/<strong>05</strong> <strong>Report</strong> of Operations<br />
Corporate sustainability case study<br />
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