Australian environmental organisation
Planet Ark|
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| Formation | 1992; 32 years ago (1992) |
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| Founder | - Paul Klymenko
- Peter Shenstone
- Jon Dee
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| Type | Not-for-profit |
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| Legal status | Charity |
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| Headquarters | Sydney, Australia |
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Region served | Australia |
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| Website | planetark.org |
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Formerly called | Ark Australia |
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Planet Ark Environmental Foundation is an Australian non-profit environmental organization founded in 1992. Planet Ark aims to partner with organizations in the public and private sectors to help find ways to reduce impact on the planet. The focus areas are the environmental impacts of human consumption in the home, the workplace, and the community.[1][2] Planet Ark's campaigns include 'Cartridges 4 Planet Ark', Australia's 'National Recycling Week', and the country's biggest annual community tree planting event, National Tree Day. The organization operates from its office in Sydney.
History
Ark Australia was founded in 1992 by Paul Klymenko, Peter Shenstone, and former Ark UK member Jon Dee. At the time, curbside recycling was in its infancy, and environmental information was very limited. The organization was commissioned to create 300 "Save the Planet" videos involving high profile celebrities and soon became known as Planet Ark. Several major events are organized by Planet Ark, including National Tree Day, founded in 1996 with Olivia Newton-John; National Recycling Week; and the Schools Recycle Right Challenge. The organization began many high profile campaigns that have since either moved to other providers or become staples of the public recycling sphere, including 'Cards 4 Planet Ark', 'Phones for Planet Ark', Steel Can and Aluminum Can (Al Cans) recycling. To demonstrate that cleaning products could be as effective without a heavy chemical composition, Planet Ark released the Aware Laundry Powder range in 1994. This was soon followed by 100% recycled toilet tissue.
Campaigns
Planet Ark's campaigns seek to promote positive action that directly changes people's behavior. The organization intends to be non-political and non-confrontational, aiming to unite people and business in action. Planet Ark's main objectives are to promote sustainable resource use, encourage low carbon lifestyles, and connect people with nature.[3] Planet Ark works with businesses and endorses a number of commercial products it considers to be environmentally friendly in production and manufacture, including recycled toilet paper, cleaning products, and car tyres.[2][4]
Planet Ark's campaigns include:[5]
- National Tree Day is Australia's largest tree-planting and nature care event. 2014 was the biggest year in the event's history, with more than 4,000 sites and events and almost 300,000 people taking part, with similar numbers participating every year.[6]
- National Recycling Week is the annual opportunity for Australian schools, workplaces, councils, and the public to focus on the benefits of recycling. In 2013, more than 70,000 children participated in the Schools Recycling Right Challenge.[7]
- Cartridges 4 Planet Ark is a partnership between Planet Ark, the recycler Close the Loop and six of the largest cartridge manufacturers – Brother, Canon, Epson, HP, Konica Minolta and Kyocera. By 2017 more than 30 million cartridges had been diverted from landfill with zero waste to landfill.[8]
- BusinessRecycling.com.au is designed to make recycling at work easy. The site lists recycling services for more than 90 different materials ranging from aluminum can to fly ash and from packaging to batteries. The site is made possible through support of the NSW EPA.[9]
- RecyclingNearYou.com.au is a comprehensive directory of the recycling services offered by more than 500 councils around Australia.[10] Each year millions of enquiries are made to the site covering items that can go in their home recycling to those items that must be recycled through dedicated schemes.
- Make it Australian Recycled was launched in partnership with Australian Paper to promote the practice of purchasing consumer goods made from recycled materials to Australians.[11]
- Make it Wood is designed to encourage individuals and businesses to use responsibility sourced wood as a building material.[12]
- The Australasian Recycling Label was developed by Planet Ark and Green Chip with the Australian Packaging Covenant Organization[13] to create a standardized labelling system to allow consumers to make better decisions about packaging recyclability.[14]
Celebrity supporters
Celebrities who have fronted Planet Ark campaigns include Pierce Brosnan, Kamahl, Olivia Newton-John, Jamie Durie, Steve Irwin, Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, Shelley Craft, Richard Branson, and TV personality Tim Webster. Current ambassadors include surfer Layne Beachley, TV personality James Treble, ABC's Gardening Australia host Costa Georgiadis, Grand Designs Australia host Peter Maddison, author Anita Van Dyke, Dr. Amanda Lloyd, Magdalena Roze, Ranger Stacey, Candice Dixon, and children's sensation dirtgirlworld.
Planet Ark's official spokesperson is environmentalist Rebecca Gilling.
Criticism
Planet Ark's carbon capture and sustainable building materials campaign 'Make it Wood' was criticized by Jon Dee and Pat Cash who appeared on television to complain about the links to the timber industry and involvement in drafting the Australian Forestry Standard.[15] which Nick Xenophon has said "raises some serious questions of a potential conflict of interest"[16] and caused Christine Milne to criticize the organization.[16] Planet Ark responded to the enquiries in a letter explaining its position in detail.[17] The Australian Forestry Standard is an attempt to create an Australian specific standard, as opposed to the international Forest Stewardship Council and Planet Ark recommends choosing FSC wood products.[18]
