Free water will help to keep children active

Water collected from the roof at the Amcor's manufacturing site in Preston, will be given to the City of Darebin to keep four sportsgrounds alive. This will mean that children, their families and other community sporting groups will be able to enjoy the outdoors and stay active.

With the current water restrictions, it is difficult for the Council to keep these sportsgrounds in optimum condition.Every extra drop of recycled water helps.

This exciting project initiated by Amcor will see approximately 600,000 litres of water collected each year made available for use in the local community to address this local need.

Amcor has installed five BlueScope Water tanks at the Preston site, with a total capacity of 104,000 litres and 1,128 square metres of the roof space has been connected up to these tanks.

This project at the Preston manufacturing site is part of Amcor's national water giving project, which will enable 20 manufacturing sites across Australia giving water to their local community. Amcor Managing Director and CEO, Ken MacKenzie, says that Amcor is proud to have initiated this national water giving project and clearly recognises the contribution that the company can make to their local communities.

The partnership between Amcor Flexibles in Preston and the City of Darebin was launched today by the Chief Operating Officer at Amcor Australasia, Don Matthews and City of Darebin Mayor, Peter Stephenson.

Cr Stephenson said he was extremely pleased to see local industry taking the initiative and working with the community to ensure that public sportsgrounds which rely on water are still accessible for children, their families and the broader community. "This project will have a direct benefit for the people in the community."

Don Matthews said that this was a great opportunity to encourage other businesses in the area to take up the challenge and also install tanks to collect water for community benefit.

In addition to giving water away, Amcor is working with its employees to promote water conservation messages and encourage water saving both at the site and in the household. Amcor has coordinated a "showerhead exchange program" involving access to free efficient showerheads and shower timers with Yarra Valley Water and a discount tank offer with Blue Scope Water. An employee representative at Amcor Preston, Graham Ginns, said that it was great to see the company acting at both the community level and with co-workers to promote a consistent message about water conservation.

Amcor aims to be a leader in supporting environmental and social initiatives, particularly in areas where its business operations have an impact on the community. Amcor's Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives in Australia is delivered through the teamcor Community Engagement Program.

For more information about the water giving project, visit: www.amcor.com/teamcor