For companies and brands today, more sustainable production methods are topping lists of things to do. The uncertainty of material and vendor prices, the need to comply with a growing number of regulations and mounting evidence of environmental impacts increasingly drive change. More and more manufacturers are investing time, energy and money to fix infrastructures and further optimize supply and production chains. They have to, after increasingly finding themselves at risk for not putting forth the resources necessary to make their processes more sustainable. This is not to mention the vulnerability they incur by ignoring the growing demands of consumers who now expect transparency and CSR as a baseline.

Recycling  is important to Roz Liddell but drinking coffee is not. Even so, when the Lodge Floral Studio owner received a letter from Nespresso asking if her boutique business in Waitara would like to become a collection point for people to recycle their coffee pods, she jumped at the chance. Nespresso began contacting garden centres and florists to ask if they'd become collection points. "I literally rang them that afternoon and said I'm in." Nespresso supplies the collection boxes, which each hold 20kg of pods. "These [boxes] are picked up by courier post. We get our pre-packs all sent with courier stickers so it doesn't cost us anything. They go to TerraCycle." About three boxes are filled each month at Lodge Floral Studio. Once they're sent away the elements of the capsules are separated and turned into garden furniture like chairs and garden bricks. "I've always thought before you throw something away, what can you do with it to reuse it or can you recycle it," she said.

Online shopping has increased the reliance on single-use, waterproof plastic satchels, which has created a new challenge for Australia Post - how should it effectively keep these satchels out of landfill? In order to solve this issue, the national mail service partnered with recycling organisation TerraCycle to initiate a free scheme that would allow consumers and businesses to return used plastic mailbags to be re-used and recycled into plastic park benches, chairs and other industrial items.

Out of that 2-day event CC4G Actioneers from the community made the decision to help kick-off six incentives that arose from conversations during the workshops over those two days being:

• Biodiversity Yarning Trai
• Community Lead Climate Action Plan
• Local Food Hub
• TerraCycle- recycling program
• Sustainable Urban Gardening
• Divestment and Sustainable Investment

Nespresso pods are made from aluminium and are easy to recycle. TerraCycle runs a recycling program for Nespresso with drop off locations in their Boutiques and hundreds of florists. TerraCycle also have a free post-back recycling programs for NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto Capsule and other types of coffee pods. There is also a range of capsules called Eco-Caffe made from bio-degradable material. The manufacturer reports the pods breakdown in 180 days in a commercial composter (the kind that councils use to compost food waste).

CEO of eco-capitalist and upcycling company TerraCycle, Tom Szaky, said there is a big difference in what businesses think consumers value and what consumers actually understand. “Things like how a product is made usually gets undervalued by consumers," he explained. "You need to find out what your consumers value – and it may not be the first thing you initially have on your list."

Tom Szaky, founder and chief executive of TerraCycle, shared insights into how his brand has grown by engaging consumers in recycling post-consumer products and packaging. “Recycling something that isn’t recyclable, like many other key sustainability functions, requires an investment of money, so what we really have to unlock is that we can learn to create value from sustainability investments."

A couple of weeks ago Merici College’s Sustainability team, ‘SAM’, entered a competition organised by Officeworks and TerraCycle Australia (a sustainability/ recycling business) where we entered a photo showing how we reduce waste at our school. The competition raised awareness of the great work that our schools and universities are doing in Australia, and to reward local #ECOHEROES.  We are very excited to announce that Merici College, together with Sandgate District State High School, QLD and St Ignatius College, NSW have been named the winners of the challenge.

The environmental and social impact of brands are being increasingly scrutinised by stakeholders, employees and most importantly consumers, and the demand for new products, services and business models that deliver both purpose and profit, is soaring. The world has changed and transparency is paramount. Innovative brand leaders with their focus on positive, sustainable outcomes will thrive, whilst those who fail to deliver will dive.