One of Australia's largest environmental not-for-profits, Planet Ark Environmental Foundation, has been placed into voluntary administration by its governing board. Founded by tennis legend Pat Cash and environmentalist John Dee in 1991, the pair disassociated themselves from Planet Ark in 2012, saying they believed it had 'lost its way.'
The 24-year old environment and recycling advocacy group, who recycles ink cartridges for Canon, Brother, Cartridge World, Epson, HP and Kyocera, was put into voluntary administration after a board review of the organisation's "financial position and future viability." This VA administration follows on from the 2023 failure of RedCycle soft plastic recycling. Since then, major food chains have endeavoured to set up a task-force to resume recycling of soft plastics, estimated at 60 billion items a year in Australia.
Planet Ark has been advocating for recycling across Australia since 1991. Its Cartridges 4 Planet Ark initiative, in partnership with Close the Loop, has recycled over 55 million ink and toner cartridges since then and efforts are underway to continue this service.
In a statement from Planet Ark's board it says: "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."
Michael Jones and Bruce Gleeson from Jones Partners Insolvency and Restructuring have been appointed to manage the administration.
Planet Ark's board says: "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. 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."
Founder John Dee, who left the organisation in 2007 and resigned his membership in 2012, has been quoted as saying that he was disappointed to hear Planet Ark had gone into administration, adding: "I have held longstanding concerns about the direction that Planet Ark took after my departure. 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."
Mr Dee (currently Chairman of the Forest Stewardship Council - FSC), joins the newly re-elected Labor Government in recognising the essential need for recycling. Although Planet Ark is in voluntary administration, there's a possibility of rescue, especially with the government considering mandatory recycling schemes in Australia. The need for effective recycling is becoming increasingly recognised and Planet Ark's work in this area could be revived through new collaborations or initiatives
Commentary by Andy McCourt
Recycling is like a problem child and has been since the Hawke Government's strong environmental efforts of the 1980s put it on the political agenda. Everyone recognises the need for circular economies and recycling of materials but no one seems to want to pay for it. You can't run recycling like businesses where you hold an asset and work out ways to make a profit (unless your name is Visy!), however small, from re-processing it. Recycling has all of the costs of manufacturing and mining - but very few of the profits needed
Cartridges, ink pouches & bottles; they all need recycling to sustain a company. Meanwhile, we continue to dump resources into landfills, oceans and ultimately- inside living organisms like homo sapiens and fish: - microplastics. Not all of course, there are success stories such as the aforementioned Visy, which takes 40% of your kerbside recycling and turns it into new packaging.
Cartridges, ink pouches & bottles; they all need recycling to sustain a company. Meanwhile, we continue to dump resources into landfills, oceans and ultimately- inside living organisms like homo sapiens and fish: - microplastics. Not all of course, there are success stories such as the aforementioned Visy, which takes 40% of your kerbside recycling and turns it into new packaging.So, what's the answer? I think it's a combination. Some resources recycle easier than others, take the popular Re-Board as an example - registration kiosks at PacPrint will be made. Aluminium and glass are of course a breeze and you get back 10 cents per can or bottle to prove it.
The problem is plastics and mixed content plastics - and what remains inside them after use. Toner or soup, it has to be separated out.
The problem, as highlighted by the failures of REDcycle and Planet Ark, can only be solved by originators of the waste taking full responsibility for its recycling. Some already have, such as Ricoh whose Total Recycling Initiative encompasses several programs focused on reducing waste and promoting resource conservation, including a consumable recycling program, a device recycling program, and a carbon offset program. The core of this initiative is to make recycling a seamless and cost-free process for Ricoh customers, with a goal of reaching zero waste-to-landfill.
With ink and toner cartridges, only the manufacturers have the financial resources to ensure circularity of their imaging products. Appointing third-party recyclers like REDcycle and Planet Ark will ultimately end in failure - it just palms the problem off to someone else. They must take full responsibility or oversight and apply sound business practices to the issues.
If we can't manage that, we are destined to have more warehouses full of bales of soft plastics and pallet loads of cartridges - costing money to store and presenting proven fire risks, polluting the atmosphere and not being recycled.
Our choice. Our future.
