In March 2018, the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) selected 12 people from a wider list of invitees to be the inaugural members of APCO's Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).
The TAC is responsible for ensuring that PREP Australia/New Zealand is producing accurate recyclability assessment results, approve changes to respond to changing market conditions and respond to appeals lodged by PREP users.
Shortly after forming, three TAC sub-committees were created to allow members to gain a deeper knowledge in either: plastics; paper; or metals and glass. The sub-committees firstly consider a new initiative and then put forward motions for approval at the next TAC meeting, which have been held almost monthly since the first meeting.
The frequency of the meetings is expected to be reduced once the TAC members are fully across the recyclability assessment framework contained in the PREP and once the more urgent and/or contentious matters have been addressed.
The TAC is supported by the Working Groups that have also been established by APCO to investigate problematic materials regarding their end of life management. The findings from the Working Groups will assist the TAC to identify where changes in the PREP may be required. The TAC is currently undertaking a stakeholder mapping exercise to identify other experts who may be able to assist the TAC to tackle some of the more technical details that require specialist knowledge.
PREP Design is represented on the TAC and is responsible for making changes to the PREP where it is deemed to be inaccurate.