2025 Sustainability Report
EPL’s Sustainability Commitment sets a clear standard for responsible growth and innovation, grounded in purposeful environmental and community actions. This sustainability document introduces EPL’s philosophy and proven track record in transforming waste into valuable resources, integrating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into every aspect of our business. Through dedicated product stewardship, robust recycling initiatives, and enduring partnerships with key community and environmental groups, EPL’s approach to sustainability is documented here.
We use over 233 tonnes of recycled material each year
Last year we used the equivalent of 1.8 million 1-litre milk bottles being removed from the waste stream and given new life in the form of useful products. This doesn’t even include our internal recycling programmes that see us collecting and utilising scrape materials to be reused in our production whenever possible.
Product stewardship programmes
Through our product stewardship programmes, we prioritise the use of reusable spools and stillages to reduce cardboard waste as well as reliance on timber pallets. Wherever possible we replace wooded pallets with durable, custom-designed stillages that can be used over and over again.
And our PolyCycle® spools, made from recycled materials, are used on certain product lines instead of traditional cardboard. The spools are returned to us by our customers to be used multiple times over and if a spool is damaged, we can recycle the PolyCycle® material to make new spools.
READ MORE ABOUT POLYCYCLE®How we can design out waste.
Sustainability is front of mind with us at EPL and we work with our customers to reduce waste. In this case study, B&D Doors were having issues with their product being damaged in transit. So we redesigned the product to make it easier to be packaged and transported. We also introduced a scheme in which we take the off cuts from B&D Doors production process, to help them achieve their waste reduction targets.
Click to learn moreTe Awa Kura Barnett Park Planting Day
The Te Awa Kura Barnett Park Regreening Group volunteers their time to work towards restoring the Barnett Park Valley in Ōtautahi Christchurch back to a fully native forest, home to local species of birds and lizards. We joined them for a planting day using our biobased, biodegradable PolyNatural Plant Protectors and wool weedmats donated by Wool Life to plant 150 New Zealand native saplings in the area.
Read moreKeeping our marine environment clean since 2003
As a member of Operation Clean Sweep since 2003, we have designed our manufacturing sites to a high standard of care to capture any potential loose resin pellets or flakes, keeping them from polluting our waterways. Operation Clean Sweep® is an international program that has been adopted by more than 60 countries worldwide in an effort to help every plastic resin handling operation achieve zero resin loss.
Operation Clean Up
Each year our team get involved in Keep New Zealand Beautiful's Clean Up Week campaign. We travel to various locations to support the efforts of the local community to clean up beaches, rivers and parks.
Canterbury Westcoast Rescue Trust
We’re proud to contribute to our various communities in a number of ways, from supporting life-saving services to volunteering at local charities—it’s all part of creating a better future for everyone. The Canterbury Westcoast Rescue Helicopter provides a vital service. They have helped many people, even saving lives! We are so proud to be able to support their work.
Learn more about the service