Following are some of Amcor’s key highlights for sustainability in 2008/09.
ENVIRONMENT
EnviroAction
EnviroAction is Amcor’s global environmental program, designed to address Amcor’s operational impacts relevant to climate change and resource issues. EnviroAction focuses all business groups towards the achievement of Amcor’s environmental targets, set in 2008.
Amcor targets
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction
- 10% reduction in GHG emissions per unit of production by 2011 from 2005/06.
- 60% reduction in GHG emissions per unit of production by 2030 from 2005/06.
- 30% reduction in waste to landfill per unit of production by 2011 from 2005/06.
- Zero waste to landfill is the long term objective.
- Water-stressed regions have defined reduction targets.
- Other regions are implementing water management plans.
Sustainability Champions from each business group have prepared action plans and coordinate activities towards achieving these targets. Regular conference calls within and between business groups have facilitated sharing of sustainability information and specific ideas aimed at reducing Amcor’s operational impacts across the whole Amcor group.
Detailed reporting and analysis of energy, GHG, waste and water use at each Amcor site have allowed Amcor businesses to prioritise programs to improve operational efficiency. See the 2009 Sustainability Report for further details on the EnviroAction programs and an up-to-date status on progress towards targets for 2008/09.
Incidents
In 2008/09, Amcor had no significant spills or other environmental incidents.
WORKPLACE
Talent Management
Amcor seeks to recruit and develop people who are fully engaged and passionate about the business and its customers. Amcor also needs to ensure it manages its employees’ performance and assists their careers using world-class practices and tools.
Key areas of focus have been:
Engagement
Surveys to measure co-worker engagement and implementation of actions in response to feedback continue across the businesses.
Talent
Implementation of learning and development initiatives and a supporting system to enable improved induction and training.
Performance
Continuing implementation and enhancement of the performance and career development processes. This focus underlines Amcor’s commitment to talent, performance management and development through leadership goal setting, performance reviews and peer reviews.
Safety
Safety framework
Amcor remains committed to its stated goal of ‘No injuries’. In order to achieve this goal, the following processes and infrastructure have been put in place:
- Standards – In 2005, Amcor developed Occupational Health and Safety Standards. These standards form the basis of the safety management system. The Amcor standards are the mandatory, minimum requirements for all Amcor operations and apply to all employees, visitors and contractors on Amcor sites.
- Reporting – The Amcor Board requires monthly reports from the business groups on compliance with these standards and local legislation, in addition to reports on injury statistics.
- Auditing – Internal audits of the safety management system are conducted at least annually, and external audits are conducted every three years. There is close alignment between the Amcor standards, AS/NZS 4801 and OSHA 18001.
- Organisational structure – Each of the business groups has an individual who is responsible for managing safety at their respective business. These individuals are supported by plant and office safety representatives and committees.
- Global Safety Steering Committee – A Steering Committee has been established this year to investigate, recommend and oversee the implementation of improvements to Group safety policies, processes, and infrastructure. This committee is chaired by the Managing Director, Amcor Rentsch. Members include safety and environmental professionals from every business group. The Committee meets quarterly.
- Standards are aligned with international standards and definitions;
- Performance reporting remains as transparent and as accurate as possible;
- Sites receive objective feedback on performance and advice on how to improve; and
- Appropriate human resources are allocated to achieve safety goals.
Regrettably, Amcor must report two fatal accidents this year.
One accident involved an employee at the PET packaging facility in Tlazala, Mexico.
The second accident involved a visitor to the Ryco Dies site in Auckland, New Zealand.
Charges have been laid against Amcor Packaging (New Zealand) Limited in relation to two potential breaches of the Health and Safety in Employment Act (NZ).
A thorough investigation of each incident is underway and lessons learned will be communicated across the Company once the analysis has been completed.
Safety performance
Amcor’s safety performance is measured using two criteria – Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR), and Recordable Case Frequency Rate (RCFR).
Amcor’s LTIFR is measured by calculating the number of injuries resulting in at least one full work day lost, per million hours worked. In the 2008/09 financial year, the LTIFR was 1.4, compared to the previous financial year’s result of 1.6. This represents an overall improvement of 12.5%.
Amcor’s RCFR is measured by calculating the number of medical treatment cases and lost time injuries (LTI), per million hours worked. In the 2008/09 financial year, the RCFR was 6.8, compared to the previous financial year’s result of 7.4. This represents an overall improvement of 8.1%.
Amcor PET, Amcor Australasia, Amcor Flexibles Food, Amcor Asia and Amcor Flexibles Healthcare all achieved reductions in their numbers of LTI. Amcor Asia did not have any LTIs in 2008/09.
Amcor PET, Amcor Flexibles Food and Amcor Flexibles Healthcare, Amcor Rentsch, Amcor Asia and Amcor Sunclipse also achieved reductions in the number of Recordable Cases (RC). Amcor Asia did not have any Recordable Cases in 2008/09.
TravelSafe
Amcor has entered into a partnership with Control Risks and International SOS to implement its TravelSafe program.
TravelSafe ensures that any Amcor employee travelling for business purposes has access to the following services:
- Pre-travel – The latest pre-travel advice and risk assessments.
- Travel tracking – Allows Amcor to understand where all of its travelling employees are at any time. In this way, Amcor can proactively manage any emerging security or medical travel risks as they develop.
- Incident response – If an employee is adversely impacted by a medical or security risk, then they have immediate access to response from highly qualified security and medical professionals.
Amcor’s priorities for Marketplace Sustainability continue to focus on two specific areas:
- Developing a deep understanding of the customers’ needs and the markets in which Amcor operates; and
- Becoming the preferred source for sustainable packaging solutions.
Continuing to develop customer and market focus as a critical business competency remained a focus this year. A continuous improvement process of formally surveying Amcor customers at regular intervals and then responding to that feedback assists the businesses to meet and exceed customers’ expectations.
An example of changing business practices to meet customers’ needs is Amcor PET’s ‘Imagine’ product development process. This has equipped the PET Design and Engineering groups to produce innovative solutions for their customers’ packaging needs.
Another example was Amcor Australasia’s restructuring of its sales team into a Key Account Management model. This restructure was in direct response to customer feedback that they found dealing with multiple Amcor representatives problematic.
Sustainable packaging and product stewardship
During 2008/09, the focus on partnering with customers to achieve sustainable packaging results saw increased use of software calculators to determine the environmental impact of packaging products. The business groups use regionally-based tools for simplified life-cycle analysis (LCA) or carbon footprint calculations, supported by corporate expertise. These tools are used both internally for concept assessments and for product assessments at the request of customers.
Amcor also continued to engage customers and the packaging market on the topic of sustainability. This has taken the form of either working directly with customers, often in educational roles, or publicly sharing information at conferences and trade shows.
COMMUNITY
Amcor has operations in many locations across the world, with 226 sites in 34 locations. Amcor’s community policy states:
‘Amcor aims to be a leader in supporting environmental and social initiatives particularly in relation to areas where Amcor business operations and manufactured products have an impact on the community.’
This means that rather than implementing global corporate social responsibility programs at the corporate level, Amcor believes that the operating sites are better placed to engage the local community and build effective partnerships for mutual benefit. The sites are managed by Amcor employees who live in the community and understand the specific needs and sentiments of the community.
Amcor aims to build effective partnerships with the communities in which it operates. Amcor wants to be recognised as a good neighbour, as well as an employer of choice and a preferred supplier.
The Water Giving Project
In Australia, Amcor has built effective partnerships with many organisations to address a major climate change issue – drought.
The Amcor Water Giving Project has resulted in water tanks being installed at five Amcor manufacturing sites. These sites can collectively harvest and donate almost six million litres of rainwater a year. Four different local governments, three water authorities and the Werribee Open Range Zoo are partners in the project.
The water is used to irrigate community sports fields and street trees, as well as being supplied to the hippopotamus enclosure at the Zoo.
Under this project, Amcor will continue to install tanks at other Amcor manufacturing sites across Australia.
