Constantia Flexibles Sustainability

Transcription

1 Constantia Flexibles Sustainability Big enough to dare, small enough to care. Constantia Flexibles Sustainability is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. World Commission On Environmental Development (Brundtland-Report), 1987 From the very beginning, Constantia Flexibles has been strongly committed to environmental and social responsibility issues. Sustainability is viewed as a comprehensive approach considering three tenets (social, environmental and economic) and their interaction.

2 CONSTANTIA FLEXIBLES As a leading company of flexible packaging, sustainability is a fundamental area of our business. Our products are an important sustainable part of the supply chain. Flexible packaging is efficient and effective in protecting and preserving its contents. It provides optimal properties by offering an impermeable barrier. As a result of better protection and preservation of food packaging reduces food waste, water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The barrier effect guarantees longer shelflives for food contents. Analysis emphasize that packaging is able to save ten times more waste than it creates. Packaging saves more resources than it consumes by protecting the content and by avoiding waste through appropriate portioning and clear labelling. Nevertheless, Constantia Flexibles strives for continuously improving the performance of products relating to sustainable issues. These efforts are implemented on raw material, process and product level: Raw material Continuous efforts in procuring and establishing ecologically friendly raw materials: Renewable, biodegradable, recyclable and accredited raw materials (e. g. FSC, ) Rating of purchased raw materials (according to LCA criteria) Process Continuous improvement relating to energy efficiency Solvent recovery Reduction of emissions Organic solvent-free technologies Heat recovery Closed water systems Product Material downgauging Alternative and new product specifications High solid lacquers (where appropriate) Innovative specifications offering benefits downstream Continuous R&D renewable and biodegradable products Efforts to increase end-of-life recycling Examples of Constantia Flexibles efforts relating to environmental improvements To fulfill all our targets and the manifold requests of our customers Constantia Flexibles has established a department (within R&D), the sole focus of which is sustainability. The department is responsible for the improvement of the sustainability performance of the company on a corporate and product level. Its tasks concentrate on monitoring the market and defining sustainability indicators for Constantia Flexibles. Firstly, these indicators are intended to meet external demands of our customers and, secondly, we strive to actively participate in setting up new standards for certified materials along the supply chain (e. g. Responsible Aluminium). In this context, we view external communication as an important mission of our company.

3 SUSTAINABILITY MORE THAN AN ADVANTAGE IN COMPETITION Some examples of successful sustainable products already implemented by Constantia Flexibles. Alu Recycling Logo Separation Dots Recyclability awareness: An unembossed die cut lid with the aluminium recycling logo as separation dots Embedded Recycling Logo Aluminium with optical surface effects inline at the milling process Low Seal Lidding The environmentally friendly, solvent free coating solution seals at very low temperatures. MattFlex Lifestyle reel fed lidding For more details of our (sustainable) products please visit our website

4 SUSTAINABILITY MORE THAN AN ADVANTAGE IN COMPETITION PLA Shrinksleeve The sustainable PLA sleeve solution with optimal shrink properties Sustain Pouch High barrier solution for long shelf life with high integrity sealing and downgauging options Paperlid A modern sustainable lidding solution Wrapstar Top solution for twist applications replacing cellophane performs on all packaging lines EcoLam Sustainability with the new aluminium free pouch laminates For more details of our (sustainable) products please visit our website

5 CONSTANTIA FLEXIBLES material extraction, distribution, production/recycling, to end of life incineration and/or disposal. This includes the exploitation of fossil fuels, the needed supply of energy and utilities, and all needed and reported transport of primary materials and resources. The impact categories represent environmental issues of concern to which life cycle impact results may be assigned. The impact categories selected in each LCA study have to describe the impacts caused by the products being considered or the product system being analyzed. As an example, studies focus on the following environmental indicators and impacts: primary energy demand, global warming potential, eutrophication potential, acidification potential, photochemical ozone creation potential and stratospheric ozone depletion. Beside strategic challenges, the sustainability department conducts life cycle assessments (LCA) and environmental estimations for raw materials and products with professional software tools (in conformity with ISO and 14044). These studies support the achievement of our objectives on corporate level and our efforts to develop more sustainable products (benchmarking of new ecologically friendly raw materials, product specifications and processes). On a corporate level Constantia Flexibles aims to reduce CO 2 -emissions by 20% until 2015 (related to m 2 output reference year 2005). As mentioned above Constantia Flexibles is interested in obtaining an understanding of environmental information of products and processes along the entire life cycle. Only those who understand the relationships can develop optimizations. The aim of a comparative LCA is to identify and understand major factors that may influence the environmental performance of products compared to each other. As example we want to present the results of our recent LCA (conducted by an independent institution) concerning four different sealing systems (die cut lids). Due to limited space the results focus on the contribution to the Global Warming Potential (GWP). Global Warming Potential (which is used as an indicator for climate change) is a measure of greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO 2 and methane. These emissions are causing an increase in the absorption of radiation emitted by the earth, magnifying the natural greenhouse effect. All GWP is measured on a 100 year time period. For more information and results of other impact factors please feel free to contact us. In addition to our cooperation upstream the supply chain (implementation of supplier questionnaires concerning sustainable issues ) we are in close contact with our suppliers and customers. To improve our environmental footprint, we are continuously working on footprint (downstream) projects for alternative and new product specifications. To get an overall understanding of the environmental load and positioning of our packaging materials Constantia Flexibles benchmarks its products against basic life cycle assessment (LCA) principles. LCA is a standardized scientific method for systematic analysis of flows (e.g. mass and energy) associated with the life cycle of a specified product, technology, service or manufacturing process systems (ISO ff.). The quantification will cover the whole life cycle of systems analyzed, from raw

6 CONSTANTIA FLEXIBLES Global warming potential (GWP) [CO 2 equivalents] 100,0 90,0 80,0 70,0 60,0 50,0 40,0 30,0 20,0 10,0 100,0 80,7 System 1: (Un)embossed die cut lid Alu 40 Combi HSL % 52,6 System 2: Coex die cut lid Alu 30 with Coex System 3: Paperlid PET/Paper/PET with Combi HSL Sustainability a fundamental part of our business focus! Awards HELIOS (2008) Constantia Teich won in the category of energy efficiency the Energy Efficiency Prize. It was awarded for the first time in 2008 by the Lower Austrian Economic Chamber and distinguishes exceptional achievements in the sectors alternative energy, energy efficiency, integrated solutions and mobility. In the process of this project the thermal oil supply of the production facilities was transformed from decentralized heating rooms to a central oil supply. So that recovered energy from the newly constructed machine heating house can be fed into a centralized heat distributing tube. Thanks to this ecological measure the yearly output of CO 2 is reduced by 1200 t a year. Low Seal Lidding awarded with an ALUFOIL TROPHY (2007) In its Press Release EAFA (European Aluminium Foil Association) named our innovation as a technical milestone in sealing technology. The significant reduction of the sealing temperature minimizes the temperature input to the filled product during the sealing step; this ensures preservation of the product and excellent product appearance as the risk of product melting during sealing is eliminated. As follows it enables various advantages in the production process and cost reductions for our customers. We would be pleased to continue our sustainable dialogue with our suppliers and customers. For more information please do not hesitate to contact us. Contact details: Dr. Thomas Greigeritsch R&D Product Sustainability Manager Constantia Teich GmbH Mühlhofen 4 A-3200 Weinburg T F M Thomas.Greigeritsch@teich.cflex.com 12_2011 Printed on FSC paper.