Our Marketplace

Our Approach

As a global leader in the packaging industry, Amcor has the product development capability and technical know-how to drive sustainability throughout the supply chain and the packaging life cycle. We focus on:

• Offering responsible packaging and supporting our customers’ sustainability objectives;
• promoting the role and benefits of responsible packaging; and
• ensuring responsible and ethical sourcing/procurement.

Offering responsible packaging and supporting our customers’ sustainability objectives

Our approach

Our approach to responsible packaging starts with Amcor’s Belief Statement “We believe in responsible packaging…”. We work closely with our customers, conducting life cycle assessments to ensure they have the data required to make informed decisions about packaging sustainability. These assessments are typically undertaken during our product development process or at the request of customers.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) takes into account the sustainability impacts of different packaging options throughout the value chain and across the product life cycle. Amcor utilises its proprietary LCA software, the Advanced Sustainability Stewardship Evaluation Tool (ASSET) and other software tools, such as the Packaging Impact Quick Evaluation Tool (PIQET), when required by customers.

Responsible packaging and packaging sustainability continue to be important topics within the consumer goods industry. Our global network of Sustainability Leaders, representing each Amcor business, has responsibility for implementing our approach to packaging sustainability and responsible packaging. Amcor’s sustainability expertise and life cycle assessment capabilities are integral to our approach and to the value proposition that we offer our customers and the market in general.

We also work with our customers to help them achieve their sustainability objectives. These objectives typically cover both environmental and social considerations and there is increasing emphasis on ethical sourcing. Customer sustainability objectives often also include specific packaging sustainability targets.

Amcor completed assessments of the life cycle impacts of all of our major product categories in FY 2006/07 . The 3000 life cycle assessments now contained within our ASSET database provide information about the majority of our packaging solutions.  In addition to this, our Flexibles Europe & Americas business, our largest business, has analysed all of its existing product categories in order to establish baselines for internal purposes, customer information and reporting purposes

Incorporating sustainability in product development

Responsibility for the product development process resides with the Research & Development functions within each Amcor business. Amcor’s Sustainability Leaders support these functions by providing their sustainability expertise and ASSET is available to any Amcor co-worker, where appropriate for their role, and is supported by formal training in its use. We currently have 189 active users of ASSET.

Within several Amcor businesses, ASSET has been formally integrated into the product development stage-gate review process meaning that sustainability is routinely considered as part of product development. The integration of sustainability into product development is determined at business unit or site-level, depending on the packaging being manufactured, the local regulatory requirements and customer-specific requirements.

The sustainability assessment within the product development process is frequently conducted in collaboration with our customers in order to cover the full product life cycle as Amcor customers must ultimately make decisions about potential trade-offs. This approach is aligned with the Global Protocol on Packaging Sustainability, which was released by the Consumer Goods Forum in 2011.  

In Australia, the requirements of the Australian Packaging Covenant (APC) led Amcor to develop a star rating system for inclusion on the bottom of customer quotes. New and existing products are assessed against the APC sustainable packaging guidelines and for new products, these guidelines are formally considered early in the stage-gate review process to ensure that only the best concepts proceed to the design stage. A comparison of the impacts of the original and final designs is used in APC reporting.

Our Sustainability Leaders also participate in many customer sustainability initiatives, such as sustainability boards and councils. These provide valuable input to Amcor’s sustainability strategy, ensuring it supports our customer’s sustainability objectives. It also promotes the sharing of best practices up and down the supply chain.

How we are doing

During the 2011/12 year, interest in packaging sustainability from customers within the food, beverage and tobacco markets remained strong and we saw increasing interest from customers in other industries.

We also saw increasing interest in emerging markets such as Asia, with our businesses in Thailand , Indonesia and India  helping customers improve the sustainability outcomes of their packaging.

During the 2011/12 year Amcor completed 855 life cycle assessments using ASSET, 30% more than last year. The number of packaging life cycle assessments in the ASSET database is now over 3000, making it a valuable resource for Amcor and our customers.

In 2012, the Carbon Trust certified that the cradle-to-gate greenhouse gas calculation tool in ASSET conforms to the requirements of the GHG Protocol product standard and the PAS2050:2008 standard and the PAS 2050 standard for cradle-to-gate carbon footprinting.

We continued to work with key customers on their sustainability objectives, for example we continued in our role as a leading member of the P&G Supplier Sustainability Board, which includes around 30 invited suppliers. The Board supports P&G’s systematic effort to improve the environmental sustainability of their supply chain. In 2010 P&G had over 500 suppliers complete their Supplier Environmental Sustainability Scorecard (available on www.pgsupplier.com). Seventeen of those suppliers achieved the highest score with Amcor being amongst them. This was publicly recognized by P&G in a press release issued in April 2012.

Working together with the Nespresso business of Nestle, we supported the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, which aims at establishing a chain of custody scheme for aluminium with an improved sustainability performance.   We participated in the Unilever Partner-to-Win supplier event where new product concepts, with a focus on innovation and sustainability benefits, were discussed.

Amcor was the only external supplier at the PepsiCo-internal Sustainability show, held in Theale, UK, during March 2012, demonstrating our credibility and reputation in sustainability.

Amcor attended the 7th Annual Walmart Sustainability Expo and completed sustainability score cards or surveys for Pfizer, GSK and Smith & Nephew.

Read a case study of how Amcor helped a leading Belgian cheese brand improve the sustainbility of their packaging.

Customer satisfaction 

Amcor uses the Voice of the Customer (VOC) market research surveying process to determine:

• our customers’ opinions of our current performance, including in the area of sustainability;
• the key areas in which to improve our performance; and
• a list of recommendations and an action plan to improve customer satisfaction.

Our VOC customer satisfaction measurement system has reached a level of maturity that requires less frequent surveying, with most of our business groups moving to biennial or triennial customer surveys.

During FY2011/12, our Packaging Distribution business undertook a VOC survey. They surveyed 392 customers , by both telephone and email. Only those customers who had declined in sales from the previous year were interviewed.

Our Rigid Plastics Business also surveyed 73  customers and our Tobacco Packaging business surveyed global and regional accounts representing approximately 90% of their sales.

In total, customers representing approximately 21% of Amcor’s FY2010/11 revenue were surveyed.

Based on the results of VOC surveys, action plans are formulated to address customer feedback and requests. For example, our Rigid Plastics business in South America is working to accelerate innovation and speed to market as well as responsiveness to customers.   Our Flexibles Asia Pacific business develops formal strategic relationship plans to address the needs of specific customers.   Within our Tobacco Packaging business, the VOC feedback was collected and compiled into specific action plans for regions, account teams or global attention. A steering committee was assigned, and monthly meetings were held throughout the year to track and follow up on actions and improvement opportunities.

The metric applied across each business from the VOC program is the 'Net Promoter Score' (NPS), which is also supplemented by qualitative measurements such as customer feedback and direct quotations. Net promoter score is calculated as the percentage of customers that are promoters minus the percentage of customers that are detractors, based on how likely is it that they would recommend the company to a friend or colleague. Targets are not set for NPS, but are used to monitor ongoing improvement and for benchmarking purposes against similar companies. The results of each program are shared widely within each business, but not externally.

In addition to the VOC survey, the following mechanisms are provided for customers to provide feedback:

• Discussions with customer-facing Amcor co-workers, notes from which are then recorded in our company-wide harmonised customer relationship management database.
• Free 7 day/24 hour feedback via the functionality provided at www.amcor.com/contact_us/.
• Free 7 day/24 hour confidential telephone feedback via our Whistleblower service (refer to the Governance section for more information).

Feedback is also integrated into products/services development and, where appropriate, is relayed to risk, compliance and/or communication departments within Amcor.

An example of how we respond to customer feedback is illustrated by the release of a new closure for beverage containers by Amcor’s Bericap North America joint venture. In response to consumer feedback that hot fill beverage containers were hard to open, Bericap released a new one-piece closure that has reduced consumer complaints and  provides the added benefit of tamper evidence protection.

Product safety

Having food-safe packaging that does not cause the packaged product to be a danger to the health of the consumer is very important to Amcor and our customers, as well as being a regulatory requirement in many of the countries where we do business.

Each Business within the Company has product safety processes and systems appropriate for their packaging type, the level of risk, the regulatory environment(s) in which their sites operate and the requirements of their customers.

The responsibility for product safety typically resides within the Quality function or R&D function within each Amcor business .

Examples of how product safety is managed within different business groups within Amcor are given below.

Within the Asian region, strong food safety regulations do not exist, so our sites follow EU food safety regulations. Our Flexibles Asia Pacific business group aims to achieve more than just regulatory compliance in this area, instead using product quality as a competitive differentiator in the marketplace.

A Product Safety policy and a policy statement describe the approach used by the business group. Quality Management Systems are used at their sites to ensure Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and include:

• Assessment and approval of raw materials and management of suppliers
• Assessment of packaging product physical structures
• Control of manufacturing processes, ensuring they reliably deliver products that meet specifications
• The Business Group has a dedicated organisation to manage product safety.

Sites conduct a self-audit twice a year and the business group product safety team audits each site annually. Each site is ranked by level of expertise, with all sites required to achieve a minimum level of compliance.

Within our Rigid Plastics business , Quality Management Systems have been in place to ensure hygiene and contamination avoidance for many years. This includes Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification for all operating sites and an audit schedule that includes Quality Systems Evaluation and Good Manufacturing Practice standards. Having these quality management systems in place has long been a competitive differentiator for Amcor in the food, beverage and pharmaceutical markets.

In 2010, the Rigid Plastics business began the process of standardising the Quality Management Systems at their sites to achieve third party certification to the FSSC22000/PAS 223 standards, which are recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), managed by the Consumer Goods Forum. This will standardise the approach to product quality and auditing across all the sites to include:

• FSSC22000/PAS 223 certification
• HACCP certification
• Unannounced GMP audits

By the end of FY2011/12, five successful FSSC22000/PAS 223 audits had been completed in North America. All North American sites are currently expected to be certified by the end of FY2012/13. First priority for certification has been assigned to sites which service customers who require compliance with the FSSC22000/PAS 223 standard.

Having certification to this common, internationally recognised standard will not only reinforce the differentiation from our competitors that we have enjoyed, but will also reduce audit demands from individual customers, who will accept the third party certification as a proxy for their own auditing.

Within our Flexibles Europe & Americas business, product safety is used as one of the key differentiators with our global customer base.

Their Product Safety Policy defines the responsibilities for product safety across the business. Product Safety is managed centrally within the R&D function. Support is given to the sites by a central team who will provide guidance documents, templates for compliance statements, advice on training, maintenance of central supplier documentation, assistance with customer issues, and feedback on legislation changes proposed and then implemented . The team maintains a state of the art testing laboratory in Germany for all analysis required, and proactively analyses samples from sites on a yearly basis to ensure full compliance, and further drive products to a higher standard.

The operational sites carry out self audits at least once a year, with the central team conducting an internal audit on each site at least once every three years. They also incorporate product safety into their existing Quality Management System i.e. that used for ISO 9001 or ISO 13485 compliance.

Sites also have an accredited hygiene certification relevant to their location and business e.g. BRC, AIB, EN15593, ISO22000.

All packaging intended to come into contact with food is required to comply with all relevant legislation e.g. EU, FDA etc. In the absence of specific legislation, the principles of the “Framework Regulation” EC 1935/2004 apply. For products that are intended for Medical and Pharmaceutical applications, sites follow local cGMP regulations to ensure product safety

The Flexibles Europe & Americas business is a member of a number of trade associations and other bodies that actively participate in committees that influence regulatory legislation in the area of food contact. Updates to legislation are communicated to sites along with guidance and interpretation 

Quality management metrics

At the day-to-day operational level, all sites use a ‘Delivery In Full On Time In Specification’ (DIFOTIS) key performance indicator. The ‘In Specification’ component is a measure of product quality, with all products manufactured being required to meet pre-defined technical specifications, determined during product development and by customer specification. The DIFOTIS metric is reported in monthly management reports produced by the Presidents of each Amcor Business for the Global Management Team (which includes the CEO).

Non-compliance

During FY2011/12 we had only one case  of product quality non-compliance that resulted in an insurance claim.

Selected information on this page pertaining to completed Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) using Amcor’s ASSET tool and Amcor’s work with P&G’s supplier environmental sustainability scorecard key customers has been assured by Net Balance.

Promoting the role and benefits of responsible packaging

Our approach

As a global leader in the packaging industry, Amcor has a leading role to play in contributing to a responsible packaging industry and advocating packaging sustainability.

This includes:

• collaborating on the development of processes, standards and tools for a consistent approach to sustainability across the packaged product life cycle and throughout our value chains;
• promoting the role and benefits of responsible packaging;
• presenting at conferences and seminars around the world on packaging and sustainability;
• contributing to government policy formulation on topics such as recycling, waste reduction and processes, guidelines and metrics that impact the manufacture, use and disposal of packaging; and
• participation in industry forums and groups.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations reported in May 2011 that roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption each year is lost or wasted. We believe that packaging can play an important role in conserving the resources used to produce the food, and also reducing food waste, by protecting food and other packaged products until they are fully consumed. Through our leadership activities in packaging sustainability, we actively promote the message that choosing packaging that minimises waste throughout the supply chain is a key part of using ‘Responsible Packaging’. 

How we are doing

Global forums

Amcor is a member of many industry bodies and often holds leadership positions within these forums.

For example, Amcor participates with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) on their global Life Cycle Initiative. The purpose of the Life Cycle Initiative is to enable users around the world to put life cycle thinking into effective practice.

In FY2011/12 we developed a sustainability communications toolkit for Amcor co-workers to use when communicating with external audiences. We identified mechanisms for distributing it internally and will increase its distribution in FY12/13.

Amcor has also been a member of the Sustainability Packaging Coalition’s (SPC) Executive Committee. The SPC is a global industry working group with more than 200 members. Amcor also chairs the Sustainability Committees of the Packaging and Films Association (PAFA) and the Flexible Packaging Europe (fpe)/European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA).

During the 2011/12 year, Amcor’s Sustainability Leaders also presented at many conferences and forums around the world. For example, we presented a paper on "Implementing sustainability in the packaging value chain" at the Life Cycle Management Conference in Berlin in August 2011.  At the Sustainable Packaging Forum in Dallas, Texas in September 2011  we presented on our approach to the Global Packaging Project and participated in a related panel discussion. We also spoke at the PET Market Congress for Central America, the Caribbean, and Andean Regions (CAPET)

Regional activities

In Europe, Amcor works with organisations such as WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), a not-for-profit company supported by UK government funding, to find ways to reduce waste in the food supply chain.

In Australia, we actively contribute to The Australian Packaging Covenant, which focuses on improved packaging design, away-from-home recycling, litter reduction and increased engagement across the supply chain through product stewardship. We worked with many of our customers, helping them prepare their reports for the Covenant, which were due in March 2012.

In Thailand, our Flexibles business conducted a packaging contest for university students with objectives that included raising awareness of responsible packaging and offering a pathway for future career opportunities for the contest participants.

Eighty one ideas were submitted during the contest, with five packaging designs being considered for patent applications and another 10-20 designs selected for further product development projects. 

All three team members of the winning team have been hired into Technical Service and ProductDevelopment positions. Internship Programs are being established for further engagement with the young talent who participated in the contest.  

Responsible and ethical sourcing / procurement

Our approach

We take a ‘whole-of-value-chain’ approach to packaging sustainability, participating in responsible sourcing initiatives with our customers and driving sustainability management in our value chains.

We support customers’ requests for information about our sustainability performance and collaborate with them on sustainability and responsible sourcing initiatives such as Sedex.

Supplier Ethical Data Exchange

Amcor is an 'AB’ member of the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (Sedex). Sedex is a not-for-profit membership organisation that enables the sharing of ethical performance information between companies and their suppliers. Our AB membership gives Amcor customers access to our ethical performance information and allows us to make this request of our suppliers. More than 400 global brands, 17,000 suppliers and more than 21,000 sites in 160 countries currently participate in Sedex.

Sedex provides an online platform for reporting labour standards, health and safety, business integrity and environmental performance information. It also facilitates standardisation and continuous improvement in the reporting of this information. We respond to customer requests regarding our ethical performance and can access similar information about our suppliers.

You can read more about how we are working with our suppliers to reduce the environmental impacts in our supply chains in the ‘Our environment’ section of this report.

Amcor is also a member of AIM-PROGRESS,   a forum of consumer goods manufacturers and suppliers that promotes responsible sourcing practices and sustainable production systems.

How we are doing

Responding to customer requests for information

We continue to see increased demand for sustainability information about our operations from customers. To support this, we have registered all of our manufacturing sites in the Sedex database and during the 2011/12 year, twenty one customers requested access to Sedex information relating to Amcor sites.

We also facilitated third-party audits of the ethical performance at 16 of our sites, a considerable increase from the six audits completed last year.

We aimed for all manufacturing sites to have completed the Sedex Self Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) by the end of FY2011/12. At this time, 46% of sites had completed the SAQ and the percentage of sites completing the SAQ had increased to 78% at the time of printing this report.

During FY2011/12, Amcor participated in the AIM-PROGRESS Mutual Recognition and Systems work streams. Via these work streams Amcor is helping to promote participation in Sedex and contributing to the streamlining of Sedex requirements and other responsible sourcing expectations.

Supporting the increase in the number of audits requested by our customers and other supplier assessment organisations requires a significant investment of resources at our sites.  We continue to work on completing Sedex questionnaires for all manufacturing sites, with the intent that the information gathered during this process will be given recognition by other third party assessment schemes, reducing demands for independent audits of our sites. In addition to this, Amcor’s Internal Audit function includes the auditing of Sedex self-assessments when they visit an Amcor site during scheduled audits. 

As discussed in the Responsible packaging section of 'Our Marketplace', we actively participated in many customer-initiated sustainability programs and events around the world during the FY2011/12 year. We also participated in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Supply Chain Initiative.

Strengthening our supply chain

During FY2011/12 Amcor developed a Supplier Code of Conduct. The Code is aligned with the Amcor Code of Conduct and Ethics  Policy and was submitted to the AIM-Progress mutual recognition working group as input to the development of a guidance document for companies intending to establish a supplier code. 

Implementation of the Amcor Supplier Code of Conduct is coordinated by Amcor’s procurement function – it commenced with Amcor’s Flexibles Europe and Americas business and will continue in Amcor’s other businesses in accordance with procurement plans.

Fibre sourcing

We purchase virgin fibre, wood chips, carton board and finished paper products for our carton board and corrugated cardboard and flexible packaging products. These raw materials are supplied by many different suppliers across the world. During FY2011/12, we purchased 877,867 tonnes of fibre-based raw materials. The extent of chain of custody certification varies across the Amcor Business Groups.

Selected information on this page pertaining to Fibre sourcing, Amcor’s Supplier Code of Conduct, and Sedex self-assessment Questionnaire completion data has been assured by Net Balance.

Other topics of stakeholder interest

This year, our stakeholders expressed interest in the topics of the use of post-consumer recycled PET and HDPE in the manufacture of containers, in the use of bioplastics in packaging manufacture and the impacts of extended producer responsibility for packaging legislation that has been implemented in several countries. These topics are discussed below.

Post-consumer recycled PET

Obtaining a reliable supply of post-consumer recycled (PCR) PET and High Density PE at a suitable quality to use as raw materials for containers is an industry issue. Supply is limited due to several factors, including not enough plastic being collected, limited facilities to make bottle-to-bottle quality PCR and competition for other uses, such as making polyester fibre.

We work with our customers, the waste and recycling industry, and other container manufacturers to address the supply issue. For example, we are members of both the National Association for PET Container Resources and the Association of Postconsumer Plastics Recyclers in the USA.

The biggest impact we can have is to create demand for recycled PET and HDPE by offering containers made from it to our customers. The number of bottles we offer with 100% PCR content has increased considerably over the last 4-5 years. We now offer 24 100% PCR PET bottles and 5 made from 25-60% PCR HDPE.

HDPE packaging is also often used for personal care products. Our customers in this market require virgin material as the direct product contact surface, so any PCR HDPE content must co-exist with a virgin HDPE layer.

Bioplastics 

We are seeing increasing interest from customers in packaging manufactured from bio-plastics. Our Rigid Plastics Business conducted trials and are curre ntly producing bottles with 10-15% bio plastic content. This could be increased to 30% but is limited by availability of the bio-plastic resin and the higher price this commands over petroleum-based PET. We conducted trials of bio-HDPE, but there is currently limited demand for bottles made from this material due to its higher cost .

Bioplastics, i.e. plastics that are made from renewable feedstock and/or that are compostable have also been a topic of research and development for many years in our Flexibles Business.

Depending on specifications of the customer as well as local market conditions, a full range of packaging solutions from bioplastics is available. This ranges from low barrier packaging for produce and bakery to high barrier packaging for coffee, which are all produced today. We are also constantly looking for new materials in this space as well as new feedstock options (e.g. for second and third generation bioplastics), which could provide break-through innovations and sustainability benefits in the longer term future.  Another focus are developments that can offer solutions that are home-compostable and solutions that can help to mitigate littering issues is some emerging markets

Extended producer responsibility for packaging

There has been an increased focus by governments on legislation to extend the producer’s responsibility to recover used packaging. This includes the California Redemption Value container legislation, the Brazil National Solid Waste Policy bill and the Extended Producer responsibility for packaging in several Canadian provinces.

This legislation is often very complex and the impacts change over time. Amcor participates in the appropriate industry groups to advocate for the packaging industry. For example we hold a board position on the Plastics Recycling Corporation of California, which provides support to the recycling industry as well as advocacy for the PET container industry. At this stage, we cannot estimate the impact these laws will have on our business. 

Selected information on this page pertaining to Post-consumer recycled PET material used in certain products has been assured by Net Balance.