The Chullora printing works opened its doors for Tanja Plibersek Member of Parliament, Minister for Environment and Water and leading representatives of newspaper publishers during a tour of the printing works on Wednesday.
The tour of the printing plant comes as the newspaper and newspaper industry has been recognized for its leadership in recycling under the National Environmental Sustainability Agreement.
On tour with Plibersek were Tory MaguireManaging Director of Nine Publishing and Chairman of ThinkNewsBrands; Vanessa LyonsCEO of ThinkNewsBrands; Phil O’TooleCOO of Seven West Media, WA; and Executive Chairman of News Corp Australasia, Michael Miller.
Tanja Plibersek
Tanya Plibersek and Vanessa Lyons
The industry-led program, approved by the Albanese Government and managed by ThinkNewsBrands, has been officially accredited and is helping to drive Australia’s transition to a circular economy.
Under this program, news media companies commit to using sustainable fibers and non-toxic inks to support safe recycling and reuse unsold products.
The industry-led program has been in place for over 30 years and has reportedly helped increase the recycling rate for print newspapers from 28 percent in 1989 to 61 percent in 2023. Last year, only 0.2 percent of all print newspapers ended up in landfill.
Plibersek said: “It is great to see Australia’s major news publishers leading the waste and recycling transition and taking responsibility for the environmental impact of their products and production processes.
“Product stewardship goes beyond recycling and considers all phases of the product life cycle to achieve better environmental outcomes. This includes design, manufacture, distribution and sale, use and recovery of materials and products.”
Lyons added: “Australian news publishers are committed to environmental sustainability and have been making great strides together in promoting more sustainable industry practices for almost 35 years.
“The industry is immensely proud of its world-leading product stewardship program and the impact it has had for Australia. It is great to see our success recognised and celebrated in the news industry.”
Michael Miller
Tory Maguire
Michael Miller of News Corp Australasia said: “Australia’s print media companies have always maintained a healthy competitive spirit, so it is always great when there is cross-party support on important issues such as environmental sustainability.
“I would also like to thank the Albanian government and ThinkNewsBrands for strengthening this long-standing agreement through accreditation.”
Tory Maguire, managing director of Nine Publishing, added: “Our print newspapers and magazines are here for the long term, so it is important that we continue to improve the sustainability of our products. Our readers and advertisers expect nothing less.”
“This accreditation of our industry’s voluntary system is recognition of how seriously we take our responsibility to protect human health and the environment.”
See also: News publishing industry recognized for leadership in recycling – ThinkNewsBrands program
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Top picture: Tory Maguire, Vanessa Lyons, Tanya Plibersek, Phil O’Toole and Michael Miller
