FEATURED TOPIC – PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP
Beyond the destruction SHRED-X DIVERTS ALMOST 50,000 TONNES OF PAPER PER ANNUM FROM LANDFILL, PARTNERING WITH AUSTRALIAN RECYCLING ORGANISATIONS TO RECOVER AND REPURPOSE THE MATERIAL IT COLLECTS. Shred-X’s Med-X operations ramped up during COVID-19, with the company’s investment in robotic technology encouraging contact-less waste recovery.
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ustralians throw out 2.7 million single-use coffee cups every day, adding up to almost one billion coffee cups a year. Van Karas, General Manager at Shred-X, says to efficiently recover and repurpose products, there has to be flexibility to enable current business capabilities to increase landfill diversion. “It’s in our DNA to ensure wherever possible, following the required destruction process, the products we collect are recycled or repurposed,” he says. Although Shred-X started out in the document destruction and paper recycling industry 20 years ago, Karas says the company has since expanded,
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pursuing recycling for an array of products other than paper including used coffee cups, QSR waste, e-waste and textiles. Karas stated that following some recent tests, it has partnered with an Australian packaging company to collect and process their 100 per cent recyclable coffee cups. “We’ve also invested in new ways of processing millions of ‘non-recyclable’ coffee cups, partnering with another Australian company that’s leading the way finding innovative solutions for recycling and repurposing use coffee cups aiding a circular economy,” Karas says. Shred-X is continuing to align itself
with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), which were first implemented into the global sector in 2016. “One of the SDG’s Shred-X is actively working towards is building resilient infrastructure, promoting sustainable industrialisation and fostering innovation,” he says. By 2025, Australia has committed to National Packaging Targets ensuring 100 per cent of packaging is either reused, recycled or repurposed. Further to this, an Australian chain of quick service restaurants (QSR’s) are also aiming to recycle its customer packaging and waste. According to Karas, Shred-X has
