ASIA PACIFIC. The Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA) has launched a twice-yearly report focusing on the growing importance of sustainability issues.
Designed as an education tool for association members, the APTRA Sustainability Reports will highlight key regulatory matters which may impact the Asia Pacific travel retail industry.
In its first report, APTRA points out that governments across the region are increasingly moving towards legislative requirements that may impact business operations for airports, retailers, brands and F&B operators.
The report considers regulations which could have an impact as of April 2022, measuring their ‘threat levels’ according to a four-point system: Agenda Building; Policy Formulation; Policy Adoption; and Policy Implementation.
Each represents a stage of policy development to help the industry determine the most appropriate response based on regulatory timescales.
Among the most pressing issues, according to APTRA, are the ban on single-use plastics (SUP), charges for plastic bag usage and mandatory packaging reporting.
In Australia, New South Wales will ban Single Use Plastic (SUP) nationwide on 1 June. Western Australia is already leading the charge with a phase-out of single use plastics introduced earlier this year. The regulations are in line with the Australian government’s National Plastics Plan targeting a phase-out of SUPs by 2025.
New Zealand has announced it will phase out SUPs between 2022 and 2025 and Japan has implemented a charge on plastic utensils and straws beginning this month.
The report notes that Singapore has introduced mandatory packaging reporting. Retailers are required to report annually the volume of packaging they plan to introduce into the country, along with their own policies to reduce, reuse or recycle packaging.
Commenting on the association’s new focus on sustainability, APTRA President Sunil Tuli said: “With over 45 diverse governments operating individually across Asia Pacific, keeping up with multiple sustainability requirements is an onerous task for any business.
“Organisations are at very different stages on their sustainability journey and APTRA’s goal, more than ever, is to help facilitate industry recovery by providing valuable, practical advice, insights and resource to our members.
“The new APTRA Sustainability Report is the latest such service we are offering our members.”
APTRA has also created a Sustainability Committee composed of retailers, brands, airports and F&B operators. The committee is chaired by ARI Chief Operations and Business Development Officer Nuno Amaral and includes Auckland Airport, Pernod Ricard, Changi Airport, Gebr. Heinemann and SSP.
Its role is to support APTRA members with optimal insight, share learnings from members and to encourage best practice.
The association is set to host a sustainability-focused panel during the APTRA Exchange on 10 May as part of the TFWA programme in Singapore.
Note: The Moodie Davitt Report has launched a digital Newsletter series focused on sustainability theme. Sustainability Curated is brought to you in association with L’Occitane. Click here to access previous editions.
