BOWEN JOINS IMPACT AT TREE PLANTING

Award-winning tube manufacturer Impact hosted a tree planting day for customers, attended by Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, who expressed strong support of Impact's efforts to lighten its footprint.

 Launched in late 2020, Impact’s forest is an agroforestry Pinus radiate plantation of 20,000 trees, plus 1300 Australian native trees, located 40 minutes’ drive from Canberra. The forest is used for wildlife protection and rehabilitation, as well as to reduce the carbon footprint of customers’ packaging and supply chain.

A strong contingent of Impact's customers who have committed to the sustainable forest programme turned out on a crisp winter's day at the Bellmount Forest near Canberra, to assist with the planting of 8500 trees, as did Print21 publisher Lindy Hughson.

Aleks Lajovic, managing director of Impact – which features regularly as a Gold winner in the National Print Awards – welcomed the group of close to 60 participants, who were quickly, and willingly, put to work, following an induction on how to plant the 6,500 Pinus radiate saplings and 2,000 native tree saplings. Impact will model the carbon capture of the new Pinus radiate saplings over 80 years, which is the lower end of the generally accepted pine tree life span of 80 to 90 years.

Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Energy, came along to show his support of the project and Impact's other sustainability initiatives, like the solar farm at its Smithfield, NSW plant, which Bowen opened in 2018 in his capacity as Federal Member for Smithfield, where he resides.

Bowen addressed the group: "I have watched the passion that Impact International has shown in dealing with climate change and sustainability for several years. Impact International is a long-valued Smithfield institution, a third-generation, family-owned business, and a very respected employer, working hard to ensure it leaves a light footprint on the planet.

"And we have quite a task in front of us. We have committed as a country to reducing carbon emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. Some people say that's not enough, we need to do a lot more – and I understand and respect that – but we have to remind ourselves that 2030 is only 89 months away, that's not very long to turn a big cruise ship around. A forty three per cent reduction will mark the biggest change in our economy since World War II, arguably for a lot longer than that," Bowen said.  

"It takes governments' efforts – state, federal, local – all working together. But it also takes a whole society effort, which is everybody coming together, companies, communities, unions, all of us, to make the sort of changes we need to make as part of Australia's contribution to the global effort we need to make to keep our planet healthy and safe, which we are not on track to do."

Speaking to Print21, Bowen said, "There are many companies doing great things in sustainability, but Aleks and his team take it to the next level."

Since Impact announced the carbon offset forest initiative, 19 customers have signed on to the program, and 'occupy' 19 out of the 20 lots into which the forest has been divided.

According to Lajovic, based on a standard extruded plastic tube that holds 100ml of product, the Impact International forest can offset the raw materials used to manufacture approximately 30 million, 100ml tubes each year.

As a family owned and operated business that has been in Australia for 64 years, Impact International takes its environmental credentials seriously, Lajovic tells Print21. The company has a large solar farm, so the factory generates its own energy. Any energy that Impact International cannot generate is purchased and is carbon neutral. Tubes are also manufactured using sugar cane-derived plastic (a renewable resource) and recycled plastic, which is helping to tackle Australia’s recycling challenges.