Packaged together

Sally Williams (Sustainable Sally) joins forces with the Martogg Group in a combined effort to promote Australian, sustainable packaging solutions to brands and consumers.

Since leaving her role as Brand Power presenter some years ago, Sally Williams has dedicated her career to only supporting and representing brands and companies that are making a concerted effort to reduce waste.

Taking a realistic stance on sustainability, Sally realised the growing need for industry groups, consumers — and importantly, government — to unite in order to make any significant change to the way we use, and possibly misuse, single-use plastic.

When approached earlier this year by Martogg Group’s Product Manager Austen Ramage to join forces with the company as an ambassador for their recycled plastics range, Sally jumped at the opportunity.

“Our investment into the recycled PET market really highlighted the need for action now,” Ramage said.

“We have a real problem with plastic waste in Australia and there is clearly a need for more education around sustainable packaging that will help to facilitate meaningful action. The time for talking is over — we have to start making a difference by re-using our plastic waste.

“Since 1975 we have had a strong company focus on recycling and sustainability, and over the years we have continued to invest in new processes to support the manufacturing of truly sustainable material.

“Plastic is an amazing material that changed the world, but we have become complacent and have neglected the recyclability of this fantastic and valuable resource.

“It’s time for us as a company to come out of the shadows so to speak and let government, industry and consumers know that there are alternatives. To do this we needed a voice — that’s why we turned to Sally, who for years has been the household name in consumer purchase decision-making.”

Williams said that the alignment represents a major step forward in positive action, “the kind we need if we are to make any inroads into stopping the growing pollution and waste problem that will inevitably effect our future”.

Image caption: Sally Williams pictured with Martogg management team, Austen Ramage, Camilla Hogg and Ben McCulloch.

In the guise of Sustainable Sally, Williams sees her role as Martogg ambassador as an opportunity to get Martogg’s message across to a wider, non-industry-specific audience. She commented that this — combined with the support from the people who have been following Williams for years — can influence what types of packaging ends up on our supermarket shelves.

Now there is a recyclable plastic product range that manufacturing and packaging industries can rely on, and it is up to us to direct consumers to these products and help them make the right purchase decisions.

Together, Sally Williams and Martogg intend to educate institutions, brands and consumers to make sustainability the number one factor when making their purchase decisions. They will collaborate with industry bodies to establish clear and common labelling protocols around recycled content for the future.

It is intended that the Martogg alignment with Sally Williams will be a long-term partnership that will see industry communications — normally published in-house — reaching audiences Australia wide.

Main image caption: Sustainability advocate Sally Williams is raring to go.