Sustainability

- A member of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) Click here to download a copy of our APCO action plan

- A member of The Packaging Forum New Zealand

- A proud supporter of the Glass Packaging Forum (NZ)

- We take part in Business Clean up Day every year

- Our products go through a sustainable packaging review as part of the product development process

- We have moved to paperless invoicing, and introduced many systems to reduce our paper usage

- Polystyrene has been removed from our distribution chain, in favour of a sustainable biodegradable solution

- Policy and procedures are in place to ensure the use of recycled materials in both production and administration areas

- Our recycling programmes are extensive covering cardboard, glass, printer cartridges and even coffee pods, and more

Recognition and giving back

FAQs on Packaging Sustainability Initiatives

1. Did you know that Integria Healthcare is a member of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO)?

2. How should I dispose of the empty glass bottles with plastic lids?

3. Why did Integria Healthcare get rid of foam Esky’s (polystyrene)?

4. How does Woolpack keep my products cold?

5. How do I dispose of the Woolpack packaging that my cold orders come in?

6. How do I dispose of the EnviroFill pellets that is packed in the boxes that get delivered?

7. What recycling/ sustainable initiatives does Integria Healthcare implement at our various sites?

Answers

 1. Did you know that Integria Healthcare is a member of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO)? 

The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) is a co-regulatory, not-for-profit organisation that partners with government and industry to reduce the harmful impact of packaging on the Australian environment. As a member of APCO, we have a number of legislative obligations under the National Environment Protection Measures. To comply with the Covenant, Brand Owner Members are required to take undertake a number of actions. Members also have their own Annual Action plan. Click here to see our annual APC action plan.

 

2. How should I dispose of the empty glass bottles with plastic lids?

Remove cap, and place bottle in the recycling bin. Cap goes in the general waste bin. If the product is a flammable liquid and has the below image on the label, it must be rinsed before going in the recycle bin.

 

3. Why did Integria Healthcare get rid of foam Esky’s (polystyrene)? 

In 2017 we undertook a review of the cold chain delivery requirements. Previously, cold goods had been segregated and delivered in a Polystyrene (EPS) esky, packaged inside a dedicated cardboard shipping carton. Whilst EPS eskys are useful for transportation of cold goods due to their insulating properties, it’s a non-biodegradable material and the volumetric area versus size of product it contains is often not aligned causing a lot of extra unnecessary packaging. The business set out to find an alternative option which was an effective insulator, minimised space in transport and was biodegradable. After reviewing options on the market, Woolpack was selected for both its efficacy of temperature control, reduced (volumetric) packaging footprint and its innovation utilising renewable material which is both biodegradable and compostable.

As a result of removing Polystyrene (EPS) esky boxes from our supply chain we removed 1.72 tonnes of EPS per annum from our supply chain and a further 6.48 tonnes (that’s about the weight of 1 African Elephant) of cardboard packaging per annum which was used to protect the Esky’s in transport. As the Woolpack pouches can be packed in with other ‘non-cold’ goods, it has been estimated that we have reduced around 2.79 million cubic meters of freight volume annually (which means less trucks on the roads).  

4. How does Woolpack keep my products cold? 

Woolpack is made from with 100% felted sheep’s wool sealed within industry grade polyethylene wrap. The wool fibres act as insulators are excellent at minimising humidity and maintaining stable temperatures. Woolpack has been independently tested and has been has been proven to keep contents between 2°C – 8°C for at least 72 hours. We rigorously tested this within our own supply chain before introducing it and independent tests consistently prove that Woolpack outperforms conventional insulated packaging on every level.

 

5. How do I dispose of the Woolpack packaging that my cold orders come in?

The wool in your Woolpack is compostable and biodegradable. It's suitable to place in your home green garden bin or to bury in your backyard, releasing valuable nutrients back into the soil. Alternatively, customers find many uses for Woolpack around the home, such as weed matting, pet bedding, worm/mulch farming, hanging baskets and veggie patches. 

The polyethylene wrap that surrounds the wool can be recycled where facilities exist such as the REDcycle program in Australia or Soft Plastics NZ in New Zealand. If your film is marked as compostable, you can bury it in your backyard, add it to your compost bin or deposit it into to any commercial composting system. 

Head over to the Woolpack Reuse, Recycle and Repurpose page for more ideas.

6. How do I dispose of the EnviroFill pellets that is packed in the boxes that get delivered?

Integria Healthcare switched our distribution void fill to Envirofill, manufactured by Pro-Pac Packaging, in July 2015. Envirofill was selected on its merits as 100% Australian biodegradable loose fill. It’s made from Australian wheat starch and will completely dissolve when saturated with water and leave no waste behind; and is made using non-toxic materials. To dispose of this, we recommend simply watering into the garden, adding to compost or disposing with general waste, as the pellets will breakdown.

7. What recycling/ sustainable initiatives does Integria Healthcare implement at our various sites?

Integria healthcare has implemented several initiatives across our 6 sites within our manufacturing and supply chain facilities as well as in the general office environments to help reduce our environmental footprint as it is one of our core values to “do the right thing”. Some of the Initiatives within the office environment include:

- Segregating co-mingled recycling, cardboards and generals waste at all sites

- Recycling toner cartridges from our printers & Nespresso pods

- Tracking our waste outputs and setting improvement targets year on year.

- All light switches are fitted with energy saving switches which turn off automatically when not in use.

- We reuse cardboard boxes as much as possible at educational events.

- We have a checklist of sustainability requirements that any hotel, supplier or venue must qualify for before we will enter into a business partnership. 

At our Manufacturing and supply chain site in Warwick we have implemented the following initiatives:

- 100% of metal waste is recycled.

- During harvest at our Thursday Plantation Tea Tree plantation we create mulch from the off cuts which is used onsite in the gardens and by staff in their gardens.

- All new products are reviewed against sustainable packaging guidelines.

- We have optimised the pallet utilisation (less trucks, warehousing etc.) on over 300 products.

- We have exchange and refurbishment programs on B2B packaging to increase reuse. For liquid bulk packaging, over 97% (by weight) goes to reuse or recycling.