Latest news with #PlanetArk
Sydney Morning Herald
02-05-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
Planet Ark was unable to stay afloat in a harsh environment
Planet Ark, known for environmental campaigns and programs including National Tree Day and National Recycling Week, has been unable to sustain itself. Regrettably, the organisation's collapse has raised questions about the shelf-life of the not-for-profit sector confronting Australia's waste crisis, while government is being increasingly pressured to regulate packaging. The board of Planet Ark Environmental Foundation took the decision to go into voluntary administration following a review of its finances and future viability. The impact of COVID-19 on stakeholder support, current economic climate and ongoing funding challenges gathered to adversely affect the organisation. Nevertheless, the ground has moved since Planet Ark started in 1992. It has shifted from a largely campaigning and educational role – promoting circular economy principles and encouraging better recycling behaviour – into partnering with corporations and organisations on packaging sustainability. And not without criticism: one of its founders, Jon Dee, severed ties in 2012 over its new directions, including links with the timber industry. Some of Planet Ark's work and campaigns have been ground-breaking. After battles in Australia between conservationists, vested interests and governments over wilderness and rainforests in the 1970s and 1980s, a grudging recognition of climate change and new attitudes to environmentalism saw a number of organisations established in the 1990s that promoted sustainability and community involvement. Meanwhile, waste developed into an existential issue as consumer societies boomed, and a throwaway culture spread rapidly across the world. Households and governments were left to shoulder the burden of recycling. When not-for-profit organisations like Planet Ark stepped into the breach, their work was not only practical but instrumental in raising new awareness. Loading It is now widely recognised that climate change, sustainability and recycling are not only interlinked, but everybody's problem. The Herald 's environment and climate editor Nick O'Malley today writes on politicians across the world turning away from bold climate action, while noting Canada's new Prime Minister Mark Carney was widely known for a 2015 speech to London financial institutions warning that climate change presented a real and overwhelming economic tragedy: 'Though its impacts would be most devastating to future generations, it could only be addressed by our own. This was the tragedy.' The work of the not-for-profit sector has been blunted by corporations driven by profit. The companies bore little responsibility for the fate of their products after they had been used by consumers, and governments have been loath to introduce more stringent controls. That may change – in Australia the industry has come around to the idea of a mandatory scheme and the federal government has been consulting on the issue and plans to consider a preferred model for reformed packaging regulation.
Sydney Morning Herald
02-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Labor commits to national packaging rules, as Planet Ark collapses
Nationally, Australia has committed to 70 per cent of plastic packaging being recycled by next year. The most recent figures suggest we are less than halfway there. The packaging and consumer goods industry has abandoned its long-held antipathy to government regulation, and has been calling for a mandatory scheme to ensure national consistency and that the costs are fairly shared. In February, the federal Environment Department published the results of a government consultation that showed a clear majority of respondents supported Commonwealth regulation of packaging. In August last year, co-regulator APCO announced plans to slug businesses hundreds of millions of dollars by 2027 to reduce packaging. Planet Ark's financial statements to the charity regulator are more than a year overdue. The 2022 report, the most recent available, listed revenue of $3.08 million and expenses of $3.79 million. Goods and services, such as corporate sponsorships, partnerships and consulting accounted for more than 85 per cent of income. The organisation is involved in a number of voluntary product stewardship schemes, including Batteries 4 Planet Ark, Cartridges 4 Planet Ark and Mobile Muster. It was awarded $940,000 from the National Product Stewardship Investment Fund under the former Coalition government to set up PODcycle to recycle aluminium and plastic coffee pods, but so far it has a pilot program in only five retailers and two cafes in NSW and Victoria. Recycling industry insiders, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said many corporations were delaying investing in new schemes while awaiting details from the federal government and APCO. Jeff Angel, director of the Boomerang Alliance, said Planet Ark was too close to industry. 'What they did by creating those schemes, and they would get money from industry for that … is they would give credibility or legitimacy to those weak schemes,' Angel said. 'Voluntary schemes always fail to make a significant impact, so it was on the verge of greenwashing because industry used it to oppose much stronger regulatory schemes.' Angel said the emerging support for regulation in the packaging industry was a shift in approach, given it took 13 years of advocacy to get container deposit schemes up and running. When asked what gap it would leave if Planet Ark closed its doors, Angel said: 'Not much'. Loading However, Louise Hyland, chief executive of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, said Planet Ark was a 'leading environmental organisation' that had helped educate Australians and promote recycling, and she hoped the restructure would allow it to survive. A partnership meant that Planet Ark promoted Mobile Muster, but the program was run independently and would continue regardless, she said. Dee, a co-founder of Planet Ark who was part of the organisation from 1992 to 2007, severed ties in 2012 over the organisation's partnership with the timber industry. He said he had spoken to administrators and set up a meeting for next week to understand the financial problems and whether he could be involved in restructuring. Loading 'How do we bring Planet Ark back to what it used to be ... it really drove the agenda on a whole range of environmental topics and created real change,' Dee said. Dee agreed it needed to be mandatory for manufacturers to fund recycling. 'We're not getting results that warrant a continuation of the voluntary approach,' he said. 'It's not working.'
The Age
02-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Labor commits to national packaging rules, as Planet Ark collapses
Nationally, Australia has committed to 70 per cent of plastic packaging being recycled by next year. The most recent figures suggest we are less than halfway there. The packaging and consumer goods industry has abandoned its long-held antipathy to government regulation, and has been calling for a mandatory scheme to ensure national consistency and that the costs are fairly shared. In February, the federal Environment Department published the results of a government consultation that showed a clear majority of respondents supported Commonwealth regulation of packaging. In August last year, co-regulator APCO announced plans to slug businesses hundreds of millions of dollars by 2027 to reduce packaging. Planet Ark's financial statements to the charity regulator are more than a year overdue. The 2022 report, the most recent available, listed revenue of $3.08 million and expenses of $3.79 million. Goods and services, such as corporate sponsorships, partnerships and consulting accounted for more than 85 per cent of income. The organisation is involved in a number of voluntary product stewardship schemes, including Batteries 4 Planet Ark, Cartridges 4 Planet Ark and Mobile Muster. It was awarded $940,000 from the National Product Stewardship Investment Fund under the former Coalition government to set up PODcycle to recycle aluminium and plastic coffee pods, but so far it has a pilot program in only five retailers and two cafes in NSW and Victoria. Recycling industry insiders, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said many corporations were delaying investing in new schemes while awaiting details from the federal government and APCO. Jeff Angel, director of the Boomerang Alliance, said Planet Ark was too close to industry. 'What they did by creating those schemes, and they would get money from industry for that … is they would give credibility or legitimacy to those weak schemes,' Angel said. 'Voluntary schemes always fail to make a significant impact, so it was on the verge of greenwashing because industry used it to oppose much stronger regulatory schemes.' Angel said the emerging support for regulation in the packaging industry was a shift in approach, given it took 13 years of advocacy to get container deposit schemes up and running. When asked what gap it would leave if Planet Ark closed its doors, Angel said: 'Not much'. Loading However, Louise Hyland, chief executive of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, said Planet Ark was a 'leading environmental organisation' that had helped educate Australians and promote recycling, and she hoped the restructure would allow it to survive. A partnership meant that Planet Ark promoted Mobile Muster, but the program was run independently and would continue regardless, she said. Dee, a co-founder of Planet Ark who was part of the organisation from 1992 to 2007, severed ties in 2012 over the organisation's partnership with the timber industry. He said he had spoken to administrators and set up a meeting for next week to understand the financial problems and whether he could be involved in restructuring. Loading 'How do we bring Planet Ark back to what it used to be ... it really drove the agenda on a whole range of environmental topics and created real change,' Dee said. Dee agreed it needed to be mandatory for manufacturers to fund recycling. 'We're not getting results that warrant a continuation of the voluntary approach,' he said. 'It's not working.'
ABC News
01-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Australia's environmental not-for-profit Planet Ark goes into voluntary administration
Planet Ark Environmental Foundation, one of Australia's largest environmental non-for-profits, has entered voluntary admission following a board review of the organisation's "financial position and future viability". Photo shows A collage of headlines about businesses entering voluntary administration Have you also been pretending you know what voluntary administration actually means? Don't worry. We asked an expert to explain in simple terms. The organisation's board attributed the current economic climate, the impact of COVID-19 on stakeholder support and ongoing funding challenges as factors that had significantly impacted their operations in recent years. In a statement, the board said the decision "provides an opportunity for an independent assessment of the organisation's affairs" and a chance to "explore potential options for restructuring that will allow the organisation to continue our important work". Established in 1991, Planet Ark was known across the country for their environmental campaigns and programs including National Tree Day and National Recycling Week. "Planet Ark has proudly worked for decades to inspire Australians to live more sustainably," the statement read. "We recognise the importance of the environmental mission we continue to pursue every day and sincerely believe that Planet Ark's contribution to that mission will continue with renewed strength beyond this process." Co-founder wants organisation to 'return to original values' Environmentalist and Planet Ark co-founder Jon Dee, who left the organisation in 2007 after sixteen years as managing director, said he was disappointed to hear the organisation had gone into administration. Photo shows Pat Cash and John Dee The founders of environment group Planet Ark say the charity has lost its way. Mr Dee, who co-founded the organisation in 1991 alongside tennis great Pat Cash, said he has held longstanding concerns on the direction Planet Ark took after his departure. "I set up Planet Ark so that it could create real and measurable change," he said in a statement. "As the person who headed up Planet Ark at its peak, I am interested in seeing what can be done to save the organisation," Mr Dee said, who is currently Chair of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in Australia and New Zealand. "Like many others, I want to see Planet Ark return to the original values and approaches that made it so successful." In 2012, the two founders told ABC's 7:30 Report they were particularly upset over Planet Ark's links with the timber industry, accusing the organisation of selling out. The organisation allowed its logo to be used on advertisements for timber, paid for by Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA), which was part of a sponsorship deal in which Planet Ark received $700,000 from the timber industry. "The deal with the forest industry and the controversy around the Peter Maddison TV advert has eroded Planet Ark's credibility as an environmental organisation," Mr Cash said in a statement at the time. Mr Dee said he has reached out to administrators to arrange a meeting in the hopes to explore ways he can help restore the organisation and its future. ABC
9 News
01-05-2025
- Business
- 9 News
Major environmental not-for-profit Planet Ark goes into administration
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here LIVE The latest updates on the federal election One of Australia's largest environmental not-for-profits, Planet Ark Environmental Foundation, has been placed into administration by its governing board. The long-time environment and recycling advocacy group was put into voluntary administration after a board review of the organisation's "financial position and future viability". Planet Ark has been advocating for recycling across Australia since 1991. One of Australia's largest environmental not-for-profits, Planet Ark Environmental Foundation, has been placed into administration by its governing board. (Planet Ark) "Voluntary administration provides an opportunity for an independent assessment of the organisation's affairs and to explore potential options for restructuring that will allow the organisation to continue our important work," the board said in a statement. Michael Jones and Bruce Gleeson from Jones Partners Insolvency and Restructuring have been appointed to take the company into administration. "We are deeply grateful for the support of the Australian public, corporate and government partners, and the many schools and communities who have engaged with our work over more than three decades," the board said. "We recognise the importance of the environmental mission we continue to pursue every day and sincerely believe that Planet Ark's contribution to that mission will continue with renewed strength beyond this process." Planet Ark was founded by Jon Dee and Pat Cash in 1991. In a statement this afternoon, Dee, who left the organisation in 2007, said he was disappointed to hear Planet Ark had gone into administration. "I have held longstanding concerns about the direction that Planet Ark took after my departure," Dee said. "I set up Planet Ark so that it could create real and measurable change. "I have reached out to the administrators to arrange a meeting that explores how I can help to restore Planet Ark and secure its future." national environment business climate change CONTACT US
