The On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL) has published a report today (20 August) setting out its intentions to align the company’s governance, policies and practice to nine of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as the company expands its operations.

The report sets out nine priorities for action, which include the full implementation of OPRL’s Carbon Policy, working with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and other stakeholders to challenge greenwashing, and benchmarking the company’s actions on equalities against similar organisations.

Several priorities for action are focused on OPRL’s relationship with suppliers, pledging to survey suppliers to determine their actions on equalities, and in order to understand what proportion of the company’s procurement spend supports under-represented groups. The report also outlines intentions to create a supplier code ‘addressing key equalities and sustainable development issues’.

OPRL will report annually on its progress towards these goals, and has announced its intention to achieve at least 50 per cent scoring in each of the nine SDGs identified by the end of this business year (June 2021), improving performance substantially where this has already been achieved.

The report has been released days ahead of Earth Overshoot Day (22 August), which marks the date on which humanity has exhausted the sustainable limit of Earth’s resources for the year.

Commenting on the release of the report, Jane Bevis, Chair of OPRL said: "With Earth Overshoot Day falling this weekend, it’s clear we’re using up the planet’s resources at an unsustainable rate – here in the UK we passed this point back in mid-May, consuming far more than our ‘share’. Our commitment to collaborate across the packaging value cycle to transform resource efficiency and deliver circularity and sustainability extends beyond the services we supply to members, it requires us to address the way we operate, even as a small business."

“The UN Sustainable Development Goals have provided a coherent framework for action by governments and global companies since 2016. But since half of the UK’s private sector turnover is generated by SMEs we need to be engaged too – as suppliers, employers and in procuring goods and services ourselves. We’ve looked at the SDGs and identified nine which most closely align with our Purpose and Values. I’m delighted to launch this report setting out our baseline position and our ambitious plans to improve on this over the next year."

Margaret Bates, who was appointed Executive Director of OPRL late last year, added: “We’ve listened to our members and the many stakeholders with whom we work. Not only have they put significant commitments in place themselves, increasingly they’re asking their suppliers and partners to do the same and we’re more than ready to step up.”

“As you’d expect for a resource efficiency business, we have a strong baseline performance on sustainable consumption and production issues, and we’re constantly striving to develop our offer to provide greater support to members, helping them deliver on their sustainability commitments. Looking ahead to COP26, to be hosted in Glasgow next year, we want to have just as strong a performance on climate change issues, as well as being a good place to work and a good organisation to do business with.”

Commenting on the importance of delivering the SDGs to the resources and waste sector, Ceris Turner-Bailes, CEO of WasteAid, said: “The SDGs are integral to WasteAid's work. They embody the concept that development is multi-faceted. For an organisation such as WasteAid, whose work contributes to many aspects of human and environmental development, they have been an invaluable framework allowing us to demonstrate the wide-reaching impact of effective waste management.”

OPRL’s ‘Baseline and Action Plan on Global Sustainable Development Goals 2020/21’ can be read in full on the OPRL website.