Tree planting | Community story | APL Window Solutions

Community and sustainability goals in sync

At APL, our social and sustainability values are intimately tied. You can see that perhaps most clearly in our wholehearted support for community-based initiatives such as planting trees.

Setting targets

As part of APL’s continued commitment to sustainability and the principles of a circular economy, one of our key focus areas is regenerating nature. We’ve undertaken four planting days in our region with a large number of staff, volunteers and community groups and successfully planted over 25,000 trees.

We also set a goal to compost 100% of our staff and site generated food and biobased materials. Our measured diversion rate regularly exceeds 80% diversion and once processed at our partner EcoGas’s food waste to bio-energy facility, the converted renewable energy (electricity, heat and biogas) and / or Fertify Regenerative fertiliser closes the loop by returning energy back in to the grid and nutrients from our food back in to our soils.

Regenerating wetlands

Three of the planting projects were part of an initiative with the Ngāti Hauā Mahi Trust and Waikato Regional Trust to reconstruct a wetland on a farm near Cambridge. APL staff and their families joined two school groups and others in three days of planting next to a tributary of the Karapiro Stream.

Multiple benefits

Riparian planting projects like these brings multiple benefits, from filtering water and preventing erosion to moderating water temperature and providing food for aquatic insects. “We know that planting is one of the best things we can be doing for our environment,” says APL Executive Director, Sustainability, Mikayla Plaw.

Planting progress

In addition to our community efforts, we’ve planted more than 800,000 tussocks, native and non-native plants in permanent parkland at Takapoto Estate, south of Cambridge. One of the largest native forest planting initiatives in the country, Takapoto not only offsets carbon, it’s been a boon for the nearby Maungatautari Sanctuary Project by providing a new food source for the birds. On top of this, 20% of our new Hautapu site has been dedicated to wetland and riparian planting, with over 12,500 trees and plants planted by our dedicated team already.

Goals in sync

Community and sustainability goals in sync

Setting targets

Regenerating wetlands

Multiple benefits

Planting progress

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