Australia Post is an instantly recognisable brand in Australia through their bright red post boxes like in this picture. But did you know that AusPost is also building their image in the world of sustainability and circular economy?
Since the end of 2021, AusPost has delivered on their 2025 National Packaging Target commitment ‘to have an average of 50% recycled content included in packaging’, with all their plastic postal sachets now containing recycled plastic. This shift away from solely using virgin plastic will have a huge impact, especially when you consider that Australia Post delivered 2.6 billion items last year.
The organisation has been offsetting the carbon emissions of all of their parcel deliveries made via Post Offices and My Post business customers since 2019. In just 3 years, this has accounted for over 124 million carbon neutral parcels, the equivalent of taking 100,000 cars off the road.
Australia Post has just added 20 new electric trucks to the delivery fleet to go along with the 2100 electric delivery vehicles and 1400 electric bicycles they already use in the delivery process.
The speed of Australia Post’s implementation of circular practices is particularly impressive in the context of the added pressures the pandemic has put on the organisation.
By November 2020, Australia’s year on year online shopping had increased by 45% and it has continued to grow through 2021. Australia Post is responsible for the delivery of 80% of E-commerce across Australia, putting the organisation in an influential position in shifting the freight and delivery services industry towards more circular practices.
Australia Post facilitated an additional $2.4 billion in E-commerce revenue between March and May 2020.
The Chief Sustainability Officer Susan Mizrahi understands this opportunity and crucially, is actively implementing change to harness it.
“There’s no negative trade-off between sustainability and business outcomes, there’s only positive outcomes on both sides. What’s also important to keep in mind is that sustainability isn’t an added expense. It’s spending money differently.”
Used postage packaging can now be recycled at over 1,800 major supermarkets thanks to a partnership with REDcycle. This is an example of a closed loop solution, a crucial way of involving consumers in the circular economy journey by involving them in day to day actions.
These are just some examples of the way this organisation is creating positive change and we look forward to seeing what they do next. Australia Post’s commitment into the future is to:
- Reduce their carbon emissions
- Invest in renewable energy
- Implement electric vehicles to their fleet
- Invest in sustainable packaging
- Reduce, reuse and recycle materials
- Facilitate a circular economy
- Increase transparency in their supply chain.
