Signatory Name: Super Retail Group
The question numbers in this report refer to the numbers in the report template. Not all questions are displayed in this report.
Status: Complete
The content in this APC Annual Report is hereby endorsed by the Chief Executive Officer, or equivalent officer of the organisation. Yes
5. Industry sector (please select 1 only): Brand Owner / Wholesaler / Retailer Packaging Manufacturer Waste Management Other - Commercial Organisation Community Group Industry Association Government Raw Material Supplier Other:
6. Industry type (please select 1 only): Food & Beverage Pharmaceutical / Personal Care / Medical Hardware Homewares Communications / Electronics Clothing / Footwear / Fashion Chemicals / Agriculture Fuel Large Retailer Tobacco Shipping Company Airline Other:
7. Please indicate your organisation's reporting period: Financial Year: 1 July 2014 – 30 June 2015 Calendar Year: 1 January 2015 – 31 December 2015 Goal 1: Design
KPI 1: % of signatories with documented policies and procedures for evaluating and procuring packaging using the SPGs or equivalent.
9. Does your company have documented policies and procedures for evaluating and procuring packaging using the SPGs or equivalent? Yes No
Provide details of policies and procedures We have embedded the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines into all relevant Procurement, Sourcing, Product Development and Environmental business activities and developed the following policies and procedures to date:
1. Policies - We currently have three policies in place: Ethical Sourcing Policy, Sustainable Procurement Policy and Environmental Policy. Our Ethical Sourcing Policy was developed in 2009, as most of our house branded products are sourced from overseas suppliers. The policy outlines the Group's environmental requirements, including the use of recycled materials and compliance with the APC. The Group's Sustainable Procurement Policy was developed in 2011 and applies to all team members, trade partners and contractors responsible for purchases on behalf of the Group. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that products and services purchased or contracted by our Group are ethically produced and environmental impact is minimised. Our Environmental Policy reinforces our commitment to minimize our impact on the environment. Those policies are reviewed yearly and updated as required. 2. Procedures - Packaging compliance is part of our new line process. Merchandising teams are required to comply with packaging specifications, which are signed off by our Packaging teams. Our International Operations team in China is required to review new trade partners capabilities to design the packaging and comply with the Group's packaging requirements. Quality and packaging compliance reviews are performed overseas, before shipment to Australia and at our Distribution Centres, before they are sent to stores. Packaging issues are addressed with our trade partners on a regular basis by our Packaging and Merchandising teams in China and Australia.
10. Of the types of packaging existing at the beginning of the reporting period, what percentage had been reviewed using the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines (SPG) by the end of the reporting period?
96 %
11. Have any new types of packaging been introduced during the reporting period? Yes No
12. If yes, of the new types of packaging introduced during the reporting period, what percentage have been reviewed using the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines (SPG) by the end of the reporting
99 %
13. Please indicate your progress this year towards achieving your annual targets and milestones for KPI 1
Target: According to your Action Plan, what did you set Actual: What did you achieve? out to do?
1. Review our internal policies to ensure compliance Completed. with the SPG. Our Ethical Sourcing Policy and Environmental Policy have been reviewed during FY15, as part of our Environmental Management System (EMS) review. No changes were required.
2. Review our internal procedures to ensure compliance Completed. with the SPG – new and existing packaging. We have embedded the SPG in our business practices and developed internal processes and procedures to ensure compliance with APC requirements, including: • Communication of compliance requirements and expectations to team members through internal media and annual Sustainability Training. • A General Business Agreement which requires all trade partners to comply with our Ethical Sourcing Policy and allow access to trade partners’ facilities for auditing purposes. Audits are regularly performed by independent third party Auditors and our internal auditing team in China. • Development of information materials to trade partners (available in our corporate website). • NL sign off process - New packaging is assessed against the SPG as part of our new line process (including sample check, when products are sourced overseas). • Pre-shipment inspections before the goods are sent to Australia (products supplied by local Trade Partners are checked in our Distribution Centres). • Addressing non-conformances with Trade Partners for correction in the next shipment/order (local and overseas Trade Partners). • Packaging reviews are also conducted in stores to identify improvements opportunities, with all recommendations addressed with our Packaging and Merchandising teams and trade partners.
3. Continue to promote the SPG and sustainable Ongoing. packaging to our trade partners. We continue to promote the SPG and the use of sustainable packaging materials in our house branded products in a number of ways, including written communications to trade partners, face to face meetings during factory visits and specification materials (SRG Logistics, Packaging, Labelling and Barcoding Specifications, Trade Partner Information Guide and Recycling Logo Guidelines). A copy of the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines is available in our corporate website, in both English and Mandarim versions.
Our International Operations team also promotes the use of sustainable packaging to our trade partners by awarding their performance via our Trade Partner Recognition Program. For more details, please refer to section 14 below.
4. Continue to work closely with trade partners to Ongoing. communicate requirements for changes to packaging All non-conformances and opportunities for (new and existing packaging). improvement identified in our DCs (as part of the packaging compliance process) and in stores (during packaging audits) have been referred to our trade partners during the reporting period. 5. Assess current Trading Terms and documents Completed. available to Trade Partners to ensure that APC Current Trading Terms and guidance documents requirements are clearly communicated. available to trade partners in our website have been assessed and considered appropriate. A new version of our Logistics, Packaging, Labelling and Barcoding Specifications is due to be released by our Logistics team in FY16.
6. Review existing packaging in stores and evaluate Completed. compliance with the SPG (all Australian brands). Six products have been identified as a result of the review and addressed with our trade partners.
7. Review guides and education materials available to Completed. Team Members in Merchandising and All guides and materials available in our intranet International Operations. (Basil) have been reviewed during FY15. The APC "Principles and strategies for sustainable packaging" document has also been added to our intranet (Sustainability section), which is available to all team members.
8. Require all team members in Merchandising and Work in progress. Packaging teams (all brands and International Our team worked closely with the APC during FY15 to Operations) to complete the Sustainable include the Sustainable Packaging toolkit into our Packaging toolkit available at the APC website. training platform (Campus) however the release of the training was delayed to FY16 due to system capabilities. Information sessions were held with the teams as an interim solution.
9. Integrate the Sustainable Packaging toolkit as an Work in progress induction requirement for all team members in Our Learning and Development team will have this Merchandising (all brands), International Operations action completed in FY16, once the Sustainable and Packaging departments. Packaging toolkit has been included into our training platform (Campus).
10. Continue to document and report changes to Completed - All changes made by our International packaging as part of our packaging compliance Operations (IOP) team in FY15 recorded and review. submitted to Group Sustainability: • 27 product lines have been reviewed and had the packaging improved, with an average packaging reduction of 28%. The highest packaging reduction recorded was 72% (SCA loading ramp alloy pair 400kg). • Our IOP team started a plastics reduction program which aims to reduce the amount of plastics used to package our products. We estimate that a total of 12,763.3 kg of plastic material will be saved per year based on the products reviewed since the program started in May 2015.
11. Continue to investigate any customer and team No investigations were required as a result of member feedback in relation to items of packaging customer feedback and team member feedback that appear to be contrary to the SPG. during FY15. 14. Describe any constraints or opportunities that affected performance under this KPI Constraints - Establishing an accurate percentage of existing packaging assessed against the SPG continues to be a challenge, for two reasons: 1. Our Brands tend to rotate product range and models year by year, with some minor exceptions; and 2. Whilst packaging reviews are conducted by our International Operations and Packaging (IOP) teams for the majority of our products, some existing products are assessed by our Merchandising teams.
To address this issue, we continue to improve our packaging compliance process to ensure that non- conformances related to packaging, such as air space and excessive packaging, are referred to our Packaging teams and addressed with our Merchandising teams and trade partners. Information sessions have been delivered to the Merchandising teams during FY15 to reinforce packaging requirements and assist with product reviews. Our Group Sustainability and Learning and Development teams also liaised with the APC during the reporting period to include the Sustainable Packaging toolkit in our online training platform (Campus) to all team members involved in packaging decisions.
Opportunities: • Introduction of a plastics reduction program which aims to reduce the amount of plastics used to package our products (secondary packaging). • Replacement of wooden crates with paper crates to improve the packaging for weights equipment sold at Rebel and Amart stores. Key benefits include: ◦ Recyclable materials (less waste); ◦ Easier handling as cardboard shroud will slide off; ◦ Reduction of top loading/lifting OHS issues, reduction in hazardous touch points; and ◦ Reduction of container point load shift. • Our IOP team continue to engage with our Trade Partners and encourage continuous improvement by awarding their performance via our Trade Partner Recognition Program. One of the performance evaluation criteria is compliance with the APC/ SPG. Trade Partners with the highest scores are invited to attend our Awards Ceremony in China and receive a recognition certificate from our CEO. This approach gave us the opportunity to achieve a higher level of collaboration whilst fostering long term relationships with our trade partners.
Goal 1: Design
KPI 1: % of signatories with documented policies and procedures for evaluating and procuring packaging using the SPGs or equivalent.
Rating 5
Rating Comments Great work! You have a robust process in place for evaluating and procuring packaging periodically, which enables Super Retail Group to progress targets and milestones. Your achievements in packaging reduction are highly commendable. Goal 2: Recycling
KPI 3: % signatories applying on-site recovery systems for used packaging.
15. Do you have on-site recovery systems for recycling used packaging? Yes at all facilities/ sites Yes at some, but not all facilities/ sites No
16. Please indicate your progress this year towards achieving your annual targets and milestones for KPI 3
Target: According to your Action Plan, what did you set Actual: What did you achieve? out to do?
1. Review current recovery systems and incorporate During the reporting period: changes, where feasible. • Following a successful automotive oil recycling trial in 56 SCA stores in Queensland, SCA rolled out this program to 144 stores nationally. According to our waste provider, it is estimated that 233,200 litres of oil was collected in stores and sent to recycling facilities, an increase of 185.78% compared to FY14. • SCA stores continued to collect automotive batteries from customers for recycling. A total of 35,929 batteries were collected and sent to recycling facilities, an increase of +0.16% compared to FY14. • Shrink wrap, paper and cardboard continued to be collected in all Metro Area stores and Distribution Centres and sent to recycling facilities. • BCF, Rays, Amart and Rebel continued to return their used clothes hangers to our trade partner for reuse. According to our trade partner, approximately 321 loose cartons were collected from Rays and BCF stores alone in 2015. • An opportunity to improve our waste management practises and increase recycling rates at our support offices is currently under investigation. An update will be provided in the next reporting period. 2. Increase recycling rate for total waste materials Whilst our target to recycle at least 52.5% of our total generated on site. waste in FY15 was achieved, our recycling rates slightly decreased by 0.7%(from 53.9% to 53.2%) compared to FY14. *Please refer to Q17 for further clarification.
The decline in the recycling rates was mainly due to store activities during the year, such as refurbishments, openings, closures and relocations.
Our new Sydney DC also had some challenges with some of the waste generated on site. For example: thick cardboard from fitness equipment & timber pallets.
To address those issues, we arranged two independent bin audits with our waste provider and explored further recycling options for our DC in Sydney with local recyclers.
As a result, we found an opportunity to review our current practises with our Project teams and found a cost effective option for pallets and the thick cardboard generated in the Sydney DC.
We have already seen some improvement in the recycling rates since then and will continue to monitor those rates to ensure that they keep going up.
3. Continue to report our recycling rates to Achieved - Recycling rates performance reported to management. management via monthly Board reports and regular communications to Retail Operations Managers (all brands).
Our recycling rates have also been reported externally via our 2015 Corporate Review and 2015 Annual Report, available at our corporate website.
4. Continue to recover recyclable packaging from Work in progress. obsolete products prior to disposal, and recycle. Guidelines on disposal & product destruction in place to ensure that all recyclable packaging is recovered.
Action Memos sent to stores and DCs are regularly monitored to ensure that the guidelines are being followed by team members.
5. Continue to hold regular meetings with waste provider Completed/Ongoing. to discuss current issues, identify gaps and Regular communications with our waste provider, opportunities for improvement. (face-to-face and phone meetings) are in place to review our performance, identify gaps and opportunities for improvement, as part of our Waste management Plan. Some opportunities identified include: • Introduction of commingled recycling in selected sites (under internal review). • Opportunity to recycle demolition waste during a BCF store refurbishment in the ACT. • Improvement of monthly waste report, with further performance analysis (i.e. volume per bin, per store, per stream) to assist stores to better understand their waste. 6. Require all team members to complete the Completed. Sustainability Training. Our Sustainability training, which was initially developed to team members in stores, has been reviewed and a new module has been launched to team members working in our DCs and support offices. All team members are required to complete the training annually via our internal leaning platform (Campus).
7. Integrate Sustainability Training as an induction Completed requirement for all team members.
8. Continue to promote waste reduction through internal We continue to promote waste minimisation through media channels to raise Team Members’ awareness. our internal media, which includes website and email communications (Bulletins) and meetings (team members & EMS meetings).
17. Describe any constraints or opportunities that affected performance under this KPI Constraints - In regards to Q15: We have on-site recovery systems for recycling used packaging at all sites/facilities where recycling services are available. We continue to liaise with our waste provider to update our recycling capabilities in stores as they become available in remote areas.
Opportunities - In regards to Q15.2 Other recycling activities have been in place during the reporting period but have not been included in the recycling rates of 53.2%. Those activities include: • Photocopier cartridges used in stores and offices are currently being collected for recycling. • Car batteries are collected for recycling at all SCA stores. 35,929 used batteries were collected during FY15 and sent to recycling facilities. • Oil recycling - 233,200 litres of oil was collected in stores and sent to recycling facilities in FY15. • Pallets sent to stores are returned to our Distribution Centres for reuse. Damaged pallets are recycled by our waste provider in most of our DCs. • Printed paper reuse - One side printed paper is recovered at our Brisbane and Sydney support offices. Paper scraps are pulled together into notepads and used by our team. Virgin notepads are only available upon request at our Brisbane offices. • Metal recycling - shelving units and obsolete/damaged/faulty products are sent to metal recyclers whenever possible to improve material recovery. Our Merchandising and Project teams have reported some financial benefits by exploring this solution with local metal recyclers. For example, transport and disposal costs have been reduced during store activities (i.e.refurbishments and closures). • IT equipment: ◦ Outdated but fully functioning IT equipment (such as monitors and registers) have been donated to charity during the reporting period. ◦ E-waste has been collected by our trade partner and disposed in accordance with international standards. • Phones: Our IS team identified an opportunity to reuse (fully functional) decommissioned Iphones by selling them at a competitive price. A total of 80 Iphones 4 were sold during FY15.
Goal 2: Recycling
KPI 3: % signatories applying on-site recovery systems for used packaging.
Rating 4
Rating Comments Well done, your responses in this section are very thorough and you are clearly committed to recycling and reuse of packaging materials. It is great that you worked to overcome packaging challenges at the Sydney DC store and are already seeing improvements in recycling rates. It is encouraging to see that you have provided detailed information on recycling activities undertaken during the period. KPI 4: Signatories implement formal policy of buying products made from recycled packaging.
18. Does your company have a formal policy of buying products made from recycled packaging? Yes No
Provide details of policies and procedures (including names of policies/ procedures) We have two formal policies in place: 1. Ethical Sourcing Policy, which applies for purchases overseas; and 2. Sustainable Procurement Policy, which mainly applies for local purchases.
Our Sustainable Procurement Policy was introduced in 2011. Our Ethical Sourcing Policy has been in place since 2009. Both policies are aligned with APC requirements and are used to guide purchasing decisions. Those policies are reviewed and updated annually.
19. Is this policy actively used? Yes No
20. Please indicate your progress this year towards achieving your annual targets and milestones for KPI 4
Target: According to your Action Plan, what did you set Actual: What did you achieve? out to do?
1. Review Sustainable Procurement Policy. Completed. No changes were made as a result of the review.
2. Establish metrics to record progress made since the Completed. introduction of our Sustainable Procurement Policy. Progress during FY15 include: • Implementation of group style name badges for the Sports division (Amart & Rebel stores and Support office) that has resulted in the reduction of team members printing payslips to receive team discount. Estimated reduction of 5,000 A4 pages per year. • Name badge order form - changed from paper based to online, resulting in a reduction of 6,500 A4 paper per year • Implementation of tablet devices for the Auto Area Managers (AM), moving away from paper base duplication (i.e. performing stores walks with Manager & writing up action plans). Now paperless as AMs are typing up direct & emailing. Benefit: ◦ Reduction in 1-2 pages per store visit per week, with an average of 7,500 A4 paper reduction per year. • Procurement of better quality cartridges has increased product life expectancy by 20% resulting in the reduction of cartridges used through the year (i.e.less waste to landfill) • Connectivity to our stores portal on hand held device, reducing the duplication in tasks processes and resulting in reduction in paper use : 1 page per store per day, which equates to 164,250 A4 pages per year. 3. Identify opportunities to purchase items with The following products with recycling content were increased recycled content for office use (i.e. office purchased during FY15: paper). • Recycled cartridges. • Post-it notes made with 67% plant-based adhesive and 100% recycled materials. The paper is sourced from certified, renewable and responsibly managed forests. • A4 envelopes made of 100% recycled materials.
4. Review packaging sourced from overseas suppliers A packaging data analysis was performed by our through APC data analysis to pursue continuous International Operations team in China (sample basis) improvement. and revealed that: • Cardboard is the major material used for inner and outer. • Some plastic type 7-EPE is used for outer as the cushion to protect the product. • Paper is the most popular material used across the Group (56%) for each (i.e. the product itself). • All paper and cardboard used to package our imported products are made of 100% recycled materials.
21. Describe any constraints or opportunities that affected performance under this KPI Constraints: The prices of products containing recycled content are still quite high. However we will continue to explore feasible options.
Opportunities: Our Procurement team continues to identify opportunities to bulk-buy products. For example: individual orders of printer cartridge from multiple suppliers were consolidated into monthly orders from one supplier, resulting in a reduction of 1,350 separate deliveries. Benefits include: better price and reduction of carbon footprint related to transport and packaging.
Our International Operations team continue to encourage our trade partners overseas to reduce packaging materials, reduce air space and use recycled materials to package our products.
Goal 2: Recycling
KPI 4: Signatories implement formal policy of buying packaging made from recycled products.
Rating 4
Rating Comments Well done, it is great that products with recycled content are being procured, and that you can report the actual percentage of recycled and the forestry certification where possible. You have demonstrated your commitment to this KPI by identifying opportunities to continue to buy products from recycled packaging. Goal 3: Product Stewardship
KPI 6: % signatories with formal processes to work collaboratively on packaging design and / or recycling.
22. Does your company have formal processes in place for collaborating with other companies or organisations on improved packaging designs and/or recycling which aims to reduce or eliminate waste? Yes No
Provide details of policies and procedures (including names of policies/ procedures) 1. Environmental Policy - Our commitment to continually improve waste management and recycling strategies is documented in our Environmental Policy, which is publicly available in our corporate website.
2. Contracts - Our General Business Agreement requires compliance with our Ethical Sourcing Policy, which outlines the Group's environmental requirements, including the use of recycled materials, sustainable packaging considerations and compliance with the APC.
3. Tender - Environmental requirements are part of tender documents developed by team members in our Procurement department.
4. Procurement framework - We carry out competitive testing when procuring non-stock goods and services to ensure we obtain the best value available considering all factors including quality, delivery, specification, price, and environmental impact.
5. Audits - We hold on-site audits and waste reviews with our national waste provider to minimise our waste & maximise efficient use of their services.
6. Guidance: • Our Packaging, Barcode & Logistics Specifications Guide was developed by our Packaging team in Australia to assist our trade partners to comply with our specifications requirements. The guide has a section dedicated to APC requirements and is reviewed on a regular basis. • Recycling logo guidelines have been developed and incorporated into SCA Style Guides to encourage our customers to recycle our packaging.
23. Please indicate your progress this year towards achieving your annual targets and milestones for KPI 6
Target: According to your Action Plan, what did you set Actual: What did you achieve? out to do?
1. Perform audits/ internal reviews to evaluate overseas Ongoing supplier’s environmental compliance. Environmental audits continue to be performed before dealing with new factories. In addition: • Our Packaging teams in China and Australia perform regular packaging compliance reviews as part of the new line process. • Factory shipment inspections are performed in all house branded products sourced via our International Operations team. The inspections include packaging compliance checks before the products are shipped to Australia. • All packaging compliance issues identified in our Distribution Centres and stores are addressed with our trade partners as part of our packaging compliance process. 2. Monitor our waste management practices and Ongoing. investigate opportunities for improvement. • A Waste Management Plan in place to improve the Group's waste management practices and recycling rates. • We work closely with our waste provider to identify waste issues and opportunities. Monthly reports, regular meetings, site visits and ad-hoc training are part of the strategy to reduce waste and increase recycling rates. • During FY15 our waste provider conducted 2 audits to understand the waste generated during store refurbishment activities (SCA & BCF) and identify improvement opportunities. The results of the audits were presented to the EMS committee and improvements opportunities were incorporated into the brands processes and procedures.
3. Continue to engage with suppliers to improve Ongoing. packaging design and recyclability. Our Packaging teams work closely with our trade partners to ensure that our packaging is in line with the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines. As part of the sourcing process, the team liaises with the factories on a regular basis and performs packaging. assessments for all new products. Our Packaging team in Brisbane proactively reviews existing packaging that comes through our Distribution Centres and makes recommendations to suppliers and the Merchandising teams to ensure that existing packaging is optimized.
4. Continue to promote our participation in the APC. Completed/ Ongoing. • Our participation in the APC has been promoted in our 2015 Corporate Review and 2015 Annual Report. • We also promote the APC to our team members via our internal media, team meetings and store bulletins.
5. Review progress of Action Plan with responsible Completed/ Ongoing. departments. Progress of our Action Plan is monitored through the Group's Environmental Management System (EMS). Our EMS Committee has representatives of various departments across the Group and meets quarterly to discuss ways to improve our environmental practices and monitor our progress against our goals.
24. Describe any constraints or opportunities that affected performance under this KPI Opportunities: During the reporting period the Group was part of a case study funded by the APC to explore the business case for packaging sustainability. The study examined successful projects from eleven signatory companies. Our effective engagement with trade partners to optimise and recycle packaging was highlighted in the study, which is available in the APC website.
We were invited to present the case study and share our sustainability strategy and journey with attendees and other high performer signatories at the Waste Expo in Melbourne (October 2014) and at the APC High Performers Strategic Engagement Workshop (December 2014) in Sydney.The APC workshop was a good opportunity to engage with other signatories and share their knowledge and experiences. Goal 3: Product Stewardship
KPI 6: % signatories with formal processes to work collaboratively on packaging design and / or recycling.
Rating 4
Rating Comments It's great to see that targets were effectively progressed, and you are working with with suppliers on an ongoing basis to improve packaging design and recyclability.
Well done on being invited to present the case study funded by the APC at the Waste Expo and APC High Performers Strategic Engagement Workshop.
We look forward to seeing more opportunities like this arise for Super Retail Group!
KPI 7: % signatories showing other Product Stewardship outcomes.
25. Please indicate your progress this year towards achieving your annual targets and milestones for KPI 7
Target: According to your Action Plan, what did you set Actual: What did you achieve? out to do?
1. Continue to collect used car batteries in SCA stores Achieved. for recycling. Our SCA stores collected 35,929 car batteries during FY15, an increase of 0.16% compared to FY14.
2. Continue to collect used oil in SCA stores for Achieved. recycling Our SCA stores collected 233,200 litres of used car oil during FY15, an increase of 185.78% compared to FY14. The increase was mainly due to the roll out of this initiative nationally (from 55 to 144 stores).
3. Identify opportunities for energy reduction. Completed/ Ongoing. We have explored and implemented a number of initiatives across the Group during FY15, including: • Implementation of organisational culture initiatives - educating team members on how to reduce power usage; • Team member engagement – seeking feedback from team members on how to further improve energy efficiency; • Structural initiatives – changing building specifications, such as lighting upgrades and heat reflective roof paint; • Installation of energy saving devices and control equipment, such as ‘smart’ thermostats and light sensors. • Procedural initiatives – optimising the hours of operation of equipment, e.g. air conditioning, lighting and illuminated signage through timers & PE cells. We also engaged with our trade partner to develop a long-term electricity management strategy for the Group. This strategy is planned to help with a ‘whole of business approach’ from accurate verifiable data to reporting mechanisms and identification of poorly performing sites within each of our brands. This approach will be clear, concise and accurate with emphasis on integrating an overall electricity management strategy that will ensure that electricity usage is controlled, operating systems are optimised, and reliability and maintenance considerations are being addressed.
4. Review E-waste recycling practices. Completed. During FY15: • The Group developed an E-waste policy and reached an agreement with an accredited e- waste recycling contractor to assist reducing the amount of electronic waste in landfill. • Some outdated IS equipment has been donated to charity. • 80 decommissioned Iphones 4 were sold for reuse.
5. Include Action plan outcomes in Corporate Social Completed. Responsibility Reporting. Our sustainability performance was reported in the Group's 2015 Corporate Review. The document included a dedicated section about the APC and our progress against our Action Plan.
6. Identify opportunities to range products with Achieved. environmental benefits. Our Merchandising and International Operations teams identified some good opportunities to range some products that reduce energy usage. Examples include: • Celsius Viper Exercise Bike - a self powered exercise bike that does not require electricity (available at Amart stores); and • Casio Solar Tide Watch - a solar powered watch that eliminates the need for battery changes (available at BCF).
7. . Continue to improve APC star ratings. Not achieved. We maintained the high signatory status however our star rating score dropped from 4.3 to 3.8 in FY14. We have reviewed the feedback provided in the star rating assessment report and have incorporated opportunities for improvement in our new Action Plan. 8. Continue to investigate other recycling programs or Completed/Ongoing. end-to-end stewardship arrangements (i.e. • Fitness equipment recycling has been revisited equipment, apparel recycling, etc) and implement during FY15 but still not viable due to liability where feasible. risks, logistics and transport costs. • Handheld batteries - We are currently exploring an opportunity with the Australian Battery Recycling Initiative (ABRI) to be part of a trial to investigate consumer engagement and ability to differentiate rechargeable from non-rechargeable batteries. We will provide an update in the next reporting period.
26. Since the beginning of the reporting period, has your company had any other outcomes related to product stewardship? Yes No
If yes, please give examples of other product stewardship outcomes 1. Hangers reuse - Clothes hangers used in stores are returned to our Trade Partners for reuse at Rebel, Amart, BCF and Rays stores. 2. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) - EDI implementation continued to be a focus during FY15. Picking slips and invoices are exchanged with listed Trade Partners via EDI. The Group has been experiencing major benefits such as reduced cost, increased processing speed, reduced errors and improved relationships with our Trade Partners through this initiative. We currently have over 300 trade partners on EDI. Our goal is to have 95% of all local Trade Partners trading electronically by end of FY 2016. 3. Packaging optimisation project - This project started in 2010 and involves reducing air space and changing packing methods to reduce the amount of packaging material. During FY15 the Group achieved 25.4% pallet utilization improvement (+7.4% compared to FY 2014) and 8.8% container utilization improvement (+1.6% compared to FY 2014) through this program, reducing packaging waste whilst delivering commercial benefits. 4. Plastics Reduction program - Our International Operations Team started a plastics reduction program which aims to reduce the amount of plastic materials used to package our products. We estimate that a total of 12,763.3 kg of plastic material will be saved per year based on the products reviewed since the program started in May 2015. 5. Cartridge recycling - Used cartridges are collected in all sites with photocopiers and sent to the Group's trade partner for recycling. The Group also uses recycled cartridges in its photocopiers. 6. Waste Management Plan (WMP) - We have a WMP to improve our waste management practices. The plan includes a timeframe for team members training, waste reporting and identification of waste reduction and recycling opportunities. 7. Pallet reuse – The Group has a partnership with two local trade partners, which enables stores to return their pallets to our Distribution Centres for reuse. Damaged pallets are recycled in our Distribution Centres by our waste provider. 8.Trade Partner CSR activities - Our International Operations team has a CSR program in place where they meet with Trade Partners to discuss our Group’s Ethical Sourcing Policy and Occupational Health & Safety requirements. Donation of safety equipment such as welding masks, protective goggles, hearing protection and gloves to factory workers is also part of the program. 9. Adoption of paywave in all Amart and Rebel stores - Customers with this card feature do not need to sign a receipt for purchases of up to $100, saving on the amount of register roll paper printed in stores. 10. Energy billing process review – All bills received by our Finance department are saved electronically in SAP rather then copied and saved in hardcopies by our Reception. This initiative delivers an estimated paper reduction of 16,200 pages p/ year across 450 sites. 11. Electronic receipts for Club Members (Auto and Leisure divisions) - This initiative was rolled out in FY14 and resulted in a reduction in register roll paper usage (around 4% of transactions). 12. E-vouchers - Our brands offer an e-voucher option to customers, which allows them to purchase products online or in-store. One of the benefits of e-cards is that they avoid unnecessary wastage, as recipients can spend them on things they actually want and need.
27. Describe any constraints or opportunities that affected performance under this KPI Liability risks, logistics and transport costs continue to affect our decision to pursue further recycling/recovering initiatives. We will, however, continue to investigate recycling opportunities and monitor the market for resource recovery. Goal 3: Product Stewardship
KPI 7: % signatories showing other Product Stewardship outcomes.
Rating 4
Rating Comments Great work! You have a comprehensive and impressive range of environmental/sustainability programs that are you pursuing. Some will have positive and direct impacts on better packaging initiatives, such as the packaging optimisation initiative, well done!
There are quite a few initiatives reported under question 26, however, and you are encouraged to develop them into actions and targets to enable better reporting in the future.
KPI 8: Reductions in packaging items in the litter stream.
28. Please indicate your progress this year towards achieving your annual targets and milestones for KPI 8
Target: According to your Action Plan, what did you set Actual: What did you achieve? out to do?
1. Promote sales of reusable enviro bags. Completed (SCA & BCF). • SCA sales increased by 40% compared to FY15. • BCF sales increased by 23% compared to FY15. Despite the sales increase of reusable enviro bags, we have reviewed this target and decided that it would be more beneficial to educate our customers to avoid the use of bags when purchasing only few items. This is because our customers don't usually bring their bags back when shopping in our stores.
Team members are now encouraged to ask if the customer actually need a bag. Reusable plastic bags are only given to SCA customers for multiple items or when requested. BCF & Rays have banned plastic bags in all stores.
Our Action Plan will be amended to reflect this new direction.
2. Investigate opportunities to range reusable enviro Completed. bags at Rebel, Amart and GX stores. Opportunities have been investigated with our Private brands (Sports) and International Operations teams, however no decision was made to introduce reusable enviro bags in (Sports) stores during the reporting period.
Instead, our focus was to encourage team members to reduce plastic bag use by asking if the customer actually need a bag. Reusable plastic bags are only given to rebel, Amart & GX customers for multiple items or when requested.
3. Include recycling messages and symbols in product Completed/Ongoing. packaging (where applicable) and media material. • All SCA, Rays, Amart and Rebel store catalogues have the recycling symbol included in their media material. • SCA encourages battery recycling by placing messages in selected catalogues through the year, on its website and store signage. • Oil recycling is also promoted by SCA through its website and store signage. • All house branded products packaged with recyclable materials are required to include the recycling symbol. • Our internal magazine (Team Talk) also contains a message to encourage team members to recycle once they finish reading it.
4. Investigate opportunities to be part of or support litter Completed/Ongoing. reduction programs. • GreenMoney: ◦ SCA Mount Druitt and SCA Blacktown became GreenMoney reward partners during FY15. This program allows residents to earn points to claim discounts and special offers simply by recycling. Reward points are distributed to each household based on the weight of recyclables collected from their building or nominated area. The more they recycle, the more points they earn. Selected rebel stores are also part of this program (Centrepoint, Bondi, Mt Druitt and Blacktown). ◦ rebel supported the GreenMoney Recycling Rewards in the City of Melbourne by providing a prize donation for their School Challenge. • We promoted the National Recycling Week to our team members via our intranet to support Planet Ark and the APC. 5. Review packaging materials sourced from Completed/Ongoing. International Operations Trade Partners and identify • As part of the sourcing process, our improvement areas. International Operations (IOP) team liaises with factories on a regular basis and performs packaging assessments for all new products. • Yearly packaging reviews are also performed by our IOP team to gather data on type of materials used by its brands.The last packaging review was performed in September 15 and noted that: ◦ Cardboard is the major material used for inner and outer. ◦ Some plastic type 7-EPE is used for outer as the cushion to protect the product. ◦ Paper is the most popular material used across the Group (56%) for each (i.e. the product itself). ◦ All paper and cardboard used to package our imported products are made of 100% recycled materials. • During FY15 our IOP team started a plastics reduction program which aims to reduce the amount of plastics used to package our products. We estimate that a total of 12,763.3 kg of plastic material will be saved per year based on the products reviewed since the program started in May 2015. • Regular packaging checks are also conducted in stores and Distribution Centres to ensure compliance with the SPG and identify any further packaging reductions.
6. Improve container space utilization by aligning carton Achieved. size with container size. Our packaging optimisation program achieved 25.4% pallet utilization improvement (+7.4% compared to FY 2014) and 8.8% container utilization improvement (+1.6% compared to FY 2014).
29. Describe any constraints or opportunities that affected performance under this KPI Constraints - Disposal of faulty, damaged and obsolete products in stores continues to be a challenge. Our investigations found that the liability risks related to product compliance and logistics costs often limit our disposal options. We currently recycle some of those products, where possible, and continue to explore other options to dispose of them more effectively. Reverse logistics is currently being investigated for products with minor defects.
Opportunities - We are currently working with our waste provider to develop a strategy to promote roadside, marine and aquatic litter reduction, away from home recycling and resource recovery in conjunction with environmental agencies and the APC. An update on this project will be provided in the next reporting period.
Goal 3: Product Stewardship
KPI 8: Reductions in packaging items in the litter stream.
Rating 4
Rating Comments Well done on your initiatives to reduce packaging items in the litter stream. To further improve in this area, you could ensure that actions listed directly address the KPI and consider further initiatives to engage with consumers of your product to ensure that packaging does not end up as litter. Your Experiences
This section lets you share with us any achievements, good news stories and areas of difficulties in making progress against your plan and the Covenant goals and KPIs.
30. Key achievements or good news stories Key achievements: • We were recognised in the CDP Australian Climate Leadership Awards for providing the “Best climate disclosure by a new responding company”. This award recognises first-time responding Australian companies with the highest CDP climate disclosure score. We reported to the CDP via their climate change questionnaire for the first time to ensure transparency and better management of climate change in our business operations. By disclosing through the CDP, we aim to improve the management of our carbon footprint, manage the risks and opportunities from climate change and identify areas for emissions and cost reductions. • We were also pleased to be recognised by the APC as a high performer signatory for the third year in a row. Good new stories: • Following the introduction of our online Sustainability training to Retail, a new version was developed to team members in our Support Offices and Distribution Centres and launched in FY15 via Campus. The training includes topics around waste, electricity and water usage reductions. Team Members are required to complete the training yearly. The training is also part of the Group's induction program (new Team Members). • The Group was part of a case study funded by the APC to explore the business case for packaging sustainability. The study examined successful projects from eleven signatory companies. Our effective engagement with trade partners to optimise and recycle packaging was highlighted in the study, which is available in the APC website. • We were also invited to the Waste Expo in Melbourne and the APC High Performers Strategic Engagement Workshop in Sydney to present the case study and share our sustainability strategy and journey with the attendees and high performer signatories. The APC workshop was a good opportunity to engage with other signatories and share their knowledge and experiences.
31. Areas of difficulties in making progress against your plan, Covenant goals or KPIs
• Establishing an accurate percentage of packaging reviewed continue to be quite difficult due to the high number of products and Trade Partners across all brands. We have, however, developed a robust process to cover the whole life cycle of the packaging which includes policies, processes, internal and external audits, pre-shipment inspections, compliance checks at our Distribution Centres and ad-hoc reviews at store level. Any non-compliance issues are reported to our packaging teams in Australia and China and addressed with trade partners and Merchandising teams. • The biggest challenge we have making good progress towards our goals is trying to reduce the packaging over what has been proposed to us by the factories and also keeping it in a manner that does not deter our customers in purchasing it. Whilst our team members understand the importance of achieving our APC goals, sometimes it is not commercially viable to adopt a particular packaging type or purchase some recycled products. • Liability risks and logistics issues continue to impact our ability to dispose of some faulty, obsolete and damaged products more efficiently. • Whilst store refurbishments, relocations, openings and closures drove successful financial outcomes during FY15, it also impacted our ability to recycle more due to the generation of construction and demolition waste. Independent audits have been performed by our waste provider during FY15 to understand the type of waste generated during those activities and identify opportunities for improvement. We have reviewed our processes for those activities, based on the result of those audits, and are currently exploring other recycling/ recovery opportunities. Summary of ratings:
2016 Rating 2015 2014 2013 2012 KPI (0-5) comparison comparison comparison comparison KPI 1 5 4 4 5 4 KPI 3 4 5 4 4 5 KPI 4 4 3 4 4 3 KPI 6 4 3 4 5 4 KPI 7 4 4 3 4 3 KPI 8 4 4 4 4 3 Average rating for this signatory 4.2 3.7 3.8 4.3 3.7 Average rating across all signatories TBC 3.0 2.8 2.9 2.8 Overall, excellent work! You have achieved great progress this year in demonstrating your commitment to the principles of the APC. A minor comment is that you may wish to review your action plan to ensure it addresses the specific KPI, as there were some actions listed that were not directly relevant. Also, to further improve your performance, it is recommended that you ensure your plan contains actions and targets that align with SMART principles. A resource to help you is available here: http://bit.ly/1gZAxzT.
To improve still further, you may find it valuable to consider contacting the APC for information on ways to go beyond the basics and work with your peers on achieving improvements in packaging design, sustainability, recycling, and litter reduction.