Repak Recycling Awards 2006

Echoing the philosophy of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, 11 Awards were presented by the Minister of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr. Dick Roche TD - to schools, companies and local authorities - at the 2006 Repak Recycling Awards in the Four Seasons Hotel in Dublin.

Attended by over 300 people, the winners celebrated those who promoted excellence in recycling as part of Repak Recycling Week which - in 2006 - ran from Monday 2nd until Sunday 8th October. A total of over 60 nominations were received in 11 categories - encompassing local authorities, waste contractors, schools and Repak member companies.

The awards sponsors were all well known companies - KPMG, Arthur Cox, EPA, Tetra Pak (Ireland) Ltd, Rehab and the RPS Group. These organisations - through their sponsorship - all show a clear recognition of the importance of emerging environmental issues and are more than happy to be associated with the Repak Recycling Awards.

Mr Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak, thanked all those who supported the event, stating - "Repak Recycling Week, now in its sixth year, is making a significant contribution to raising the awareness of recycling at national level. Thanks to all our partners for making it such a success."

Andrew Hetherington also acknowledged the generous contribution to Repak Recycling Week made by Ford through their prize of a Ford Focus Flexifuel Vehicle - Ireland's only Bio-Ethanol Car. Maxol were also on board and awarded one-year's supply of Bio-Ethanol fuel to the lucky recipient of the car. The campaign ran with 2Fm and daily winners each took home a €200 Maxol fuel voucher.

Mr. Dick Roche, T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government stated - "The people of Ireland have really taken recycling to heart. Our progress in this area in recent years has been remarkable - but new EU targets mean that we will have to do even better in future." The Minister went on to outline the real progress made in recent years - "Since the late 1990s, we have been making progress at an ever increasing pace. It's a case of letting the figures speak for themselves -

  • In 2005, Repak helped fund over 28 additional kerbside schemes, reaching a further 366,000 households. Now, 822,000 households are served by a dry recycling scheme - this figure represents 55% of all households.
  • 565,000 tonnes of of packaging was recovered in 2005 - representing c.64% of all packaging placed on the Irish market and marking a 17% increase on the same figure in 2004."
The Minister continued - "Ireland is on the way to becoming a leading European recycling nation. We have seen packaging waste recycling rates go from a low base of 15% in 1998, to over 56% in 2004 - exceeding targets set by the European Union.
"A new target for 2011 of 60% has now been introduced, but I believe that we can be more ambitious than that and increased subsidies from producers for recycling - now agreed between the major stakeholders - will help us to achieve that goal."

Commenting on the awards, Andrew Hetherington, CEO, Repak, said - “It is important that Industry is recognised for its positive efforts to reduce the amount of packaging that is placed on the market in the first instance and that these exemplar projects are made available to other members of Industry. These innovations can result in significant financial savings for the company, reduce packaging usage, as well as helping to save our environment. The Repak Recycling Awards is a moment for all those involved in recycling to celebrate our collective achievements, such as reaching our 2005 EU packaging recycling target a year in advance and exceeding it by nearly 14 percentage points.”

The Repak Awards Dinner is one of the prominent dates in the recycling calendar and is the centrepiece of Repak Recycling Week.
The Awards Ceremony provides an opportunity for Repak - an approved body established by Industry to help its members to meet targets for recovering and recycling packaging waste - to acknowledge the efforts of its members, recovery operators and local authorities and their contributions to packaging waste prevention, minimisation and recycling over the course of the year.

Batchelors won Repak Member of Year Award, Large Company, for not only recovering 95% of its cardboard, plastic and composites on site - but also achieving significant lightweighting of their cans for peas and beans. The lightweighting process requires less steel, tin and energy and - although hard to quantify, due to increasing costs of raw materials and energy - has resulted in significant monetary savings for Batchelors.

By moving from non-returnable to returnable long-neck bottles, Bulmers won Repak Best Practice Award - preventing 13 million bottles (2,925 tonnes of glass) from reaching the marketing in 2005 and saving €1.03m in material costs. The same initiative saved 81.25 tonnes of cardboard and 19.2 tonnes of plastic by replacing the tray and film with reusable crates. The dedicated environmental team in place at Bulmers also introduced a change from the PVC sleeve to one made with PET, which is recyclable in Ireland.

Technology company, Symantec won Repak Best Packaging Waste Prevention Initiative by introducing a environmental improvement programme that saved 568 tonnes of cardboard, 9.7 tonnes of paper and 17.8 tonnes of plastic in 2005. The paper and cardboard saved alone is the equivalent of almost 10,000 trees.

Wicklow County Council won Local Authority of the Year for the second time with Waterford County Council picking up the best Local Authority Initiative for its Dungarvan Material Recovery Facility project.

A joint winner last year, Ferrycarrig Hotel won Repak Best Practice Award Hospitality outright - building on its commitment to environmental initiatives. McDonald’s Swords (T/A Natline) and Eurospar, Lucan also picked up awards as prime examples of environmental best practice in the small/medium company and independent retail category.

The Repak Recovery Operator Of The Year, Large Company was won by Greenstar. The company collects and segregates all five packaging material types - glass, paper, plastic, steel and aluminium.

Connaught Waste Recycling Co. picked up the small waste contractor award and there was also a joint award for two schools - St Michael’s Boys NS, Mervue, Galway and Cranford NS, Letterkenny, Co Donegal.

The winners in each category received an award made from recovered/recycled materials, created by Irish designer, Ronan Halpin.
The judges included external industry experts such as - Brian Meaney, National Prevention Manager with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Mairead Divilly, a Partner with Mazars; Tim O'Brien, Environment Correspondent with the Irish Times; Duncan Martin, Chairman (Irish Branch) the Chartered Institute Waste Management; Deborah Spence, Partner, Arthur Cox Solicitors and Andrew Hetherington, CEO, Repak.

The fifth Annual Repak Recycling Awards, took place in true style in Dublin's Four Seasons Hotel. Miriam O'Callaghan was the evening's MC and attendees included Minister of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dick Roche TD and former Tanaiste, Dick Spring. Mario Rosenstock wrapped up the evening with a well received sketch of his most well-known characters - Bertie, Roy Keane and Jose Mourinho.

 

Awards Winners

 

Repak Member of the year Award Large Company (Sponsored by Arthur Cox)

The finalists were - Batchelors Ltd; Symantec Ltd; Tetra Pak (Ireland) Ltd

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Batchelors Ltd.

In 2005, Batchelors achieved a recovery rate of 95% for cardboard, plastic and composites. In addition, working with their suppliers, Batchelors has achieved significant lightweighting of their cans for peas and beans. Lightweighting requires less steel, tin and energy in the can manufacturing process. It should be noted that lightweighting requires an application of critical design features to add strength to the lightweighted can to withstand handling, filling, processing and final transportation of the finished pack.


L-R: Rory Ryan, Batchelors; Minister Dick Roche TD; Conor Costello, Batchelors; Deborah Spence (Arthur Cox); David Boylan, Colm Clancy, Batchelors; Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak; Anthony Callinan, Batchelors

Simultaneously, innovative technologies were introduced to improve convenience features such as easy opening lids and more advanced and effective lacquer systems to facilitate reduction of tin coating.

Batchelors has been an exemplary member of Repak since 1997. This year, the company contributed to the Repak Prevent and Save brochure, has been involved in all working groups and forums established by Repak and has attended all Repak events.

Batchelors Ltd is located in North Dublin and employs over 260 people.

It is a long established, well-known and major indigenous food processing company, producing aseptically packed juices and canned pulses. Batchelors also imports and distributes a wide range of other brands.


Repak Best Packaging Waste Prevention Initiative (Sponsored by EPA)

The finalists were - Alcan Packaging Dublin; Symantec Ltd; Tetra Pak (Ireland ) Ltd.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Symantec Ltd

In 2005, as part of a committed environmental improvement programme, Symantec introduced 4 key initiatives that directly resulted in a reduction of packaging placed on the market worldwide. The new initiatives involved the operation of sales and maintenance electronically rather than physically. The initiatives prevented packaging by using On-Line Sales versus Physical Sales (88.7% on-line in 2005), issuing electronic licences instead of shipping physical licences (93% on-line in 2005), sending maintenance updates (product and license) electronically instead of via a physical CD (71% in 2005, 10% in 2004) and minimising packaging by shipping a single multi-lingual CD rather than multiple single language CDs.

The initiatives, introduced in 2005, resulted in savings of - 568 tonnes cardboard, 9.7 tonnes paper and 17.8 tonnes of plastic.

Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Symantec has operations in more than 40 countries worldwide and, including Ireland, employs over 15,500 people.

Founded in 1982, Symantec's Norton Brand of products is the worldwide leader in consumer security and problem-solving solutions.

The Dublin facility was opened in 1991.


L-R: Minister Dick Roche TD; Dr Gerry Byrne, Programme Manager, EPA; John Connolly, Maria O’Brien, Siobhan Conneally, Anthony Fitzgerald - Symantec; Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak

Symantec Dublin is the 2nd company in Ireland - and the 12th company worldwide - to achieve ISO14001:2004 registration. There are currently 968 employees on site in Dublin.

 

 
Repak Best Practice Award Large Company
 

The finalists were - Alcan Packaging Dublin; Bulmers Ltd; Lakeland Dairies Co-Operative Society Ltd.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Bulmers Ltd

Bulmers Ltd has shown extensive improvement in terms of packaging prevention, re-use and recycling during 2005. The company has continuously examined its supply chain and its manufacturing process to improve packaging and, where no alternative has been found, has sought to minimise the amount of packaging required and also looked to returnable reuse options. Five new initiatives to prevent packaging, introduced in 2005, resulted in preventing 133 tonnes of glass, 61.5 tonnes of plastic and 61.5 tonnes of cardboard going onto the market.


L-R: Michael Herlihy, Bulmers; Minister Dick Roche TD; Kieran Dunne, Suzanne Shine, Denis Hayes, Anthony Fitzgerald - Bulmers; Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak

However, it is the move from non-returnable to returnable long-neck bottles that is truly incredible. The move has taken 13m bottles (2,925 tonnes glass) per annum out of the marketplace - resulting in a saving in raw material costs of €1.03m during 2005.
In addition, the introduction of returnable long-neck bottles resulted in savings of 81.25 tonnes of cardboard and 19.2 tonnes of plastic by replacing the tray and film with reusable crates.
The introduction of this initiative makes a fascinating case study. In addition to packaging prevention, re-use and recycling, Bulmers Ltd also examined the recyclability of the packaging used by the company.

As a result, in 2006, they introduced a change from the PVC sleeve to one made with PET. Bulmers have an environmental team in place which continually looks to improve the waste management and increase recycling rates - which they have maintained at over 90% since 2003.

Bulmers Ltd is a member company of the Cantrell and Cochrane (C&C;) Group and is Ireland's only cider manufacturing company. The company's product portfolio includes Bulmers original cider, Bulmers Light, Magners original cider, Ritz, Stag and Britvic fruit juices. Bulmers Ireland Ltd and Grants of Ireland Ltd. employ 350 at their Annerville plant. The Grants of Ireland product portfolio includes Carolans Tullamore Dew, cream liqueur and Irish Mist.

 

Repak Best Practice Award Independent Retail Sector
 

The finalists were - Eurospar, Lucan; SuperValu Supermarket, (Caulfield/McCarthy Group) Bandon, Co. Cork; SuperValu Supermarket, (Barry Collins) Carrigaline, Co. Cork.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Eurospar, Lucan

The Eurospar supermarket in the Ballyowen Shopping Centre in Lucan is operated by Partners - John Hanley and Tony O'Connor. The 14,000 sq ft supermarket has a staff of 140 and was, in fact, the first Eurospar store in Ireland.
It has consistently displayed the highest standards in the area of packaging recycling, prevention and minimisation.

The store has a sophisticated waste management structure, spearheaded by two dedicated managers - Paula King and Margaret Gilbert - who work with the entire staff to ensure the highest possible environmental standards - from staff training right through to the back door.

L-R: Minister Dick Roche TD; Paula Kind, Margaret Gilbert, Nina Butler - Eurospar; Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak

In 2005, this store reduced the amount of packaging sent to landfill by 6.4%. Overall wastes sent for recycling declined by 16 tonnes, year-on-year, reflecting their aggressive emphasis on prevention as a first step in the recycling chain.

 

Repak Best Practice Award Small / Medium Company
(Sponsored by the EPA)

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Natline Ltd (T/A McDonalds Swords)


L-R: Minister Dick Roche TD; Dr Gerry Byrne, Programme Manager, EPA; Jacqueline McStay , Morgan McStay - McDonalds Swords; Marcus Hewson, MD, McDonald’s Ireland; Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak


McDonalds Swords is one of three restaurants operated by licensees -Jacqueline and Morgan McStay. The McStays acquired the restaurant in 2002 and currently employ 41 staff - preparing and serving food to be consumed on the premises and off-site.
Since its opening, the issue of waste management has been addressed in a proactive and highly successful manner. Effective waste prevention initiatives introduced, include light-weighting of packaging and receiving deliveries in bulk as well as in reusable packaging.

McDonalds Swords currently recycles all packaging waste generated and continues to liaise with the local community to protect and enhance the environment.

This restaurant is regarded as one of the finest examples of a fast-food business - comprehensively and effectively tackling the issue of waste management.

 

Repak Best Practice Award Hospitality
 

The finalists were - Castleknock Hotel and Country Club; Ferrycarrig Hotel; Jurys Inn Cork.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Ferrycarrig Hotel

The Ferrycarrig Hotel - part of the Griffin Group - is a 4 Star hotel located on the banks of the River Slaney outside Wexford Town.

It has 102 bedrooms, as well as a leisure centre and caters for in excess of 120 weddings annually. The hotel has an excellent waste management structure in place that involves all the staff and prides itself in going beyond its statutory obligations.

This comprehensive approach has seen the Ferrycarrig build on last year's success when it was a joint winner in this sector.


L-R: Minister Dick Roche TD; Siobhan O’Rourke, Chris Culleton - Ferrycarrig Hotel; Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak
They have introduced a range of impressive waste prevention initiatives - including receiving food deliveries in reusable crates, switching from cartons of juice to freshly squeezed juice, as well as switching from bottled to filtered water.In terms of recycling, the hotel achieved a hugely commendable 44% recycling rate in 2005.

 

 

Repak Local Authority of the Year
(Sponsored by Rehab)

 

The finalists were - Cork County Council; Fingal County Council; Limerick County Council; Louth County Council; Wicklow County Council.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Wicklow County Council

Wicklow County Council has achieved the double - having been previous winner in 2003 of the Repak Local Authority Initiative and now winning Repak Local Authority of the Year. They have a proven track record in the promotion of Recycling through its Environmental Education and Awareness Programmes - hosting numerous composting workshops and 'slim your Bin' talks.


L-R: Minister Dick Roche TD; Eddie Sheehy, Moira Byrne - Wicklow Co Co; Bob Rowatt (Rehab); Michael Nicholson, Wicklow Co Co; Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak

In 2005, the council opened a 4th Civic Amenity Centre in the West of the County.

They also increased the density of bring banks at a number of locations and provide mobile collections for recyclables - such as cardboard and plastic - in areas not readily served by recycling centres.

Wicklow County Council actively promotes the Green Schools programme - with 80% of schools registered and has an impressive 51 schools which were awarded the prestigious Green Flag.


Wicklow County Council has consistently partnered Repak with recycling initiatives such as Repak Recycling Week and Repak Green Christmas.

 

Repak Local Authority Initiative of the Year
(Sponsored by RPS)

The finalists were - Cork City Council; Longford County Council; Offaly County Council; Roscommon County Council; Waterford County Council; Wexford County Council.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Waterford County Council - Dungarvan MRF

Waterford County Council has been awarded Repak Local Authority Initiative of the Year for the Dungarvan Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). This award is added to their achievement of Repak Local Authority of the Year award in 2004. This recycling initiative - undertaken in 2005 - consisted of the strategic planning, costing, commissioning and operation of a state-of-the-art Material Recovery Facility. The facility represents a major piece of recycling infrastructure, capable of catering for all dry recyclables arising in the South-East Waste Management Region. The EPA-licensed facility is uniquely owned, funded and operated by Waterford County Council. The MRF employs 14 staff and has the capacity to process up to 24,000 tonnes of dry recyclables per annum - from almost 70,000 households across the southeast region.

The capital cost of the project was over €6.2 Million - 75% of the funding being received under the National Development Plan, through the Department of the Environment Heritage and Local Government.
Designed and constructed by SFL Engineering Ltd, the plant employs camera detection technology - called redwave - along with sophisticated mechanical screens to process and sort dry recyclable materials into various waste material type groupings - such as plastics, newspapers and magazines, cardboard, cans and beverage cartons.
This material is then baled, loaded, documented and securely transported to various established legitimate recycling markets.

L-R: Larry O'Toole, Waste Director, RPS Group; Minister Dick Roche TD; Ray O’Dwyer, Co Manager, Waterford Co Co; Mary Green, Lady Mayoress, Waterford; Denis McCarty, Director of Services, Environment, Waterford Co Co; Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak
Waterford County Council is this year's winner of the Repak Local Authority Initiative of the Year having scored well in all the award criteria categories.



Repak Recovery Operator of the Year Large Company
(Sponsored by KPMG)

The finalists were - Advanced Environmental Solutions (Ireland) Ltd (AES); Clearpoint Recycling; Greenstar; Mr. Binman Ltd; Thorntons Recycling.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Greenstar

Established in the late 1990s, Greenstar is a leading provider of integrated waste management solutions. The company collects household, commercial, industrial and C&D; waste. Their larger commercial customers have onsite recycling facilities manned by Greenstar staff, which maximises the level of segregation. The company operates household kerbside dry recycable collection schemes and services both recycling centres and bring bank facilities on behalf of Local Authorities.


L-R: Cahill McDonagh, KPMG; Minister Dick Roche TD; Louise Connolly, Declan Byrne, Steve Cowman - Greenstar; Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak


Greenstar currently employs over 500 employees in 35 locations nationwide. The company continues to grow signifcantly by increasing its customer base via numerous company acquisitions and joint ventures.

In 2005, Greenstar invested €3.3 million in a new MRF and automated dry recyclables line in Bray and also operates two other Material Recovery Facilities in Munster and Connaught.

As part of its household waste service, the company provides a segregated collection to over 35,000 households.

 

Greenstar is a Main Sponsor of the Green Schools Programme and was a finalist in Repak Recovery Operator of the year Awards in both 2003 and 2004.This year, the company achieved exceptionally high marks in all award criteria categories.

 

Repak Recovery Operator of the Year Small Company
(Sponsored by Tetra Pak (Ireland) Ltd)

The finalists were - Connaught Waste Recycling Co. Ltd; Retech Processing Ltd.

The winner of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) was Connaught Waste Recycling Co. Ltd

Connaught Waste Recycling Co Ltd, based outside Galway City, was established in 1995 by two brothers - Gerard & Peter Jordan. They specialise in the collection of clean dry segregated recyclable products, of which almost 90% is made up of packaging material.

The company currently services 1200 business customers made up of the retail, commercial and industrial sector and has a strong customer focus with the motto - 'you're only as good as your last collection'. Connaught Waste concentrates on the commercial sector and has a developing business in confidential shredding of office paper.


L-R: Minister Dick Roche TD; Peter Jordan, Connaught Waste Recycling; Marie Kiernan, TetraPak; Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak

The company was the overall winner of the Repak Recovery Operator of the year Award in 2002. In 2005, the company embarked on a direct marketing campaign to source new material for recycling to replace tonnage lost to competitors.

 

aaaaaaaaaaaaRepak Recycling School of the Year
aaaaaaaaaaaaa- in association with An Taisce

The joint winners of the Repak Member of the Year 2006 (Large Company) were St Michael's Boys NS, Galway & Cranford NS, Co. Donegal

Both schools were amongst some of the first applicants for the Green Schools program back in 1997.


L-R: Minister Dick Roche TD; Patricia Oliver, Director of Education, An Taisce; Sarah Ferragher, Green Schools Co-Ord, St. Michaels NS; Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak

They were awarded their first Green Flag in 1998 and have each received 4 consecutive Green Flags and are due to receive their fifth in February. This long-term success and achievement has been due to the commitment and dedication of the Green Schools co-ordinators in the respective schools.

It is estimated that the two schools, alone, would have diverted one and three-quarter tonnes of waste from landfill. However, if this is extrapolated out to the homes, a diversion of 5 tonnes is estimated.

St. Michael's Boys NS has 14 teachers and 250 pupils.


Its litter-free policy and recycling habit is part of school life. They have 4 wormeries and a general compost bin. In 2000, they took part in an anti-litter video with Galway City Council.

Cranford National School has just 2 teachers and 34 pupils. It has always had a strong focus on the importance of recycling and has demonstrated how recycling facilities have improved over the years since they have been involved in the Green Schools program.

They have been involved in Repak Cash for Cans and recycle all their plastic, cans, batteries, cartridges, stamps, clothing and Christmas cards.

This school is twinned with an Eco-School - Beechlawn School in Co. Down - and, not only correspond with them on a regular basis, but have, in fact, visited them.


L-R; Minister Dick Roche TD; Patricia Oliver, Director of Education, An Taisce; Suzanne Tinney, Environmental Awareness Officer, Donegal, Co Co; Andrew Hetherington, CEO Repak

 

Minister Roche paid tribute to the Award winners - "Government sets the policy. Repak and local authorities, in large part, implement it. But it is the individual businesses - that go the extra mile to prevent, minimise, reuse and recycle packaging - that are setting the standard - and they usually save money doing it. I congratulate them - one and all - for their efforts in relation to recycling in the past year."

 

Repak

Repak is a not-for-profit members-based packaging compliance scheme - currently Ireland's only producer responsibility scheme - which was established under a voluntary agreement between industry and the Department of the Environment and Local Government in 1997.

It was created as industry's response to the obligations placed on Ireland by the EU directive on Packaging Waste (94/62/EC) and is the only government-approved compliance scheme under the Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations 1997.

Repak succeeded in reaching - and exceeding - Ireland's National Recycling Target of 25% of packaging waste in 2001 and 50% in 2005 - as set by the EU directive.

Repak runs a variety of educational initiatives - such as the Repak Recycling Week in October, the Repak Green Christmas and the Repak National Conference. It is also a sponsor of An Taisce's National Spring Clean campaign, the Tidy Towns Competition and the schools-based Repak Cash for Cans programme.

Repak membership fees are used to subsidise the collection of used packaging in Ireland, through the network of 2,200 bring banks, over 90 recycling centres and household kerbside collection schemes - which reach in excess 822,000 Irish households.

Since its establishment, Repak members have invested over €90 million in subsidising recycling activities in Ireland and, in 2005, recycled c.64% of all packaging placed on the Irish market.

 

 

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