Page 26 - Print21 Magazine Jan-Feb 21

Sustainability
Making
an impact
Some people talk the eco talk, but others actually walk it. Aleks Lajovic’s Impact International is firmly in the walk-the- walk camp with its latest move seeing it invest in a forest. Lindy Hughson reports.
Sydney-based tube manufacturer Impact International has made a major step on its sustainability journey,
launching a first-of-its-kind carbon- offset forest initiative in partnership with leading Australian brands.
With this move, Impact International becomes the first tube manufacturer in the world to offset the carbon emissions of the tubes the company manufactures through its own infrastructure.
At the time of the launch, Print21 spoke to Aleks Lajovic, Impact International managing director, who said: “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.”
Lajovic said: “The Impact International forest is being used for wildlife protection and rehabilitation as well as to reducing the carbon footprint of our customers’ packaging and supply chain.
“Customers who are participating in our sustainable forest programme have access to the most sustainable tubes available in the world, plus are helping to protect native Australian wildlife.”
Impact’s forest – an agroforestry Pinus radiate plantation of 20,000 trees, with an additional 1300 Australian native trees – is located 40 minutes’ drive from Canberra, and less than three hours from Impact International’s Smithfield, NSW headquarters.
As a family-owned and operated business that has been in Australia for 62 years, Impact International takes its environmental credentials seriously, Lajovic tells Print21. The company already 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 crisis.
The new forest has room for
more brands to join in, with Impact International so far partnering with ten of Australia’s recognised brands for the launch of this world-first initiative. Those brands include Bondi Sands, Natio, De Lorenzo Hair Care, Lovekins, Breeze Balm, Ultraceuticals, Chroma Australia, Pump Hair Care, tbh Skincare, and Soodox.
Lajovic said: “The forest has been divided into 20 lots, with 10 lots are already allocated. This means we have room for more brands to join us in the forest.”
The solar farm that the company established in July 2018 occupies 800 square metres and is designed so customers and other visitors can tour the installation to see the system
at work. Smart Commercial Solar installed and monitor the efficiency of the 5B Maverick solar array, a world-first technology developed and manufactured in Alexandria, Sydney.
Lajovic told Print21 that the move should see at least 30 per cent of the Smithfield plant's total energy use covered by solar energy.
He said: "We operate our plant
24 hours a day, so while the sun shines, the 290kw installation will supply 100 per cent of the power for the manufacturing site.” It is estimated this will eliminate 300 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually and generate 395 MWh’s of electricity per year – enough to supply all the power needs of 90 Australian homes.
For brand partner Bondi Sands, the new forest partnership was attractive because a key strategic focus for the future of its business is sustainability.
Bondi Sands' co-founder Blair James said: “We are sourcing alternative packaging materials to reduce our plastic usage, reducing and offsetting of our carbon footprint and driving internal sustainable practices. With this in mind, we felt this initiative was a clear alignment for our brand.
“This initiative isn’t solely based on land investment and carbon footprint reduction, but instead looks at the bigger picture – protecting our native Australian wildlife and fauna, while also reducing the carbon footprint of our packaging,” he said.
Major skin care and cosmetic brand Natio is a long-time customer of Impact International, which supplies the majority of Natio’s tubes across its large product portfolio. Like the other brands signed up, it too sees the forest project as a way
of being able to give back and offset what it consumes.
Lajovic said he is proud to partner with these brands, and to be at the helm of a company making so many progressive steps towards meeting its own sustainability targets. 21
Sign of positive change: Impact International managing director
Aleks Lajovic (left) and engineering manager, Stuart Hunt, at the site of the sustainable forest initiative
26 Print21 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021
“Customers who are participating in our sustainable forest program have access to the most sustainable tubes available in the world, and they are helping to protect native Australian wildlife.”