Environmental Sustainability Case studies

EnviroChart tracks our performance

Amcor’s environmental reporting system, EnviroChart, is used across 200+ sites globally to manage energy, water and waste information. The system is accessible at all levels of the business and is monitored by our Sustainability Champions. EnviroChart is now being introduced to some of our key customers’ businesses, such as Fosters Group, to enable them to record and track the environmental impacts of their operations.

Fighting Climate Change

In celebration of World Environmental Day, Amcor Rentsch France hosted a day of education for co-workers and local schoolchildren – but with a twist – the students were in charge of educating the adults. Students from the local Ungersheim Primary School set up seven informational stations around the theme of climate change. Throughout the day, AR France coworkers could stop by to learn about climate change from the schoolchildren. This is the 14th year Amcor Rentsch France has held a World Environmental Day event with the local school and the local non-profit organisation, Alter Alsace Energies.

Investment in solvent recovery in China

New solvent recovery systems were recently installed at Amcor’s plant in Zhongshan, China. A carbon absorption unit was installed in the printing section of the plant and a solvent reclaiming system was installed in the dry lamination section. Both systems remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from discharge streams before the discharges reach the outside environment. In addition to their environmental benefits, the new solvent recovery systems, will also deliver economic benefits, with lower running costs.

Energy Initiatives Add Up

For the last two years, the Amcor Flexibles Healthcare site at Winterbourne, UK, has achieved the greatest reduction in electricity usage of any Amcor site in Europe, with a reduction of 32% over two years – or more than 6,000 MWh. This has been achieved by the cumulative effect of many initiatives, with 12 energy-reduction projects delivered in FY 2008/09, including upgrading of lighting, installation of variable speed drives on motors and reduction of oil temperature.

90% reduction in freshwater use at Petrie, Australia

At our Cartonboard Mill in Petrie, Queensland, Australia, Amcor Australasia co-workers have reduced the use of fresh drinking water in the manufacturing process by 90%. Previously one of the top 10 water users in the Brisbane catchment area, Petrie Mill now uses purified recycled water in its manufacturing processes. This saves over 4 million litres of drinking water per day – over 1 billion litres each year. The recent completion of this project means that substantial water reduction is only beginning, and full benefits will be realised in the next year.

Smash Trash

Amcor PET’s Smash Trash waste reduction program in North America has seen average waste to landfill reduced by 64% compared to FY 2005/06, already smashing the EnviroAction FY 2010/11 target of 30% with two years to spare! Initiatives include identifying recycling opportunities, promoting reusable alternatives, composting food scraps and sharing best practice amongst the Amcor Group.

Sustainable Fibre Products

Amcor Rentsch sites at Rickenbach and Poland have PEFC Chain of Custody Certification (Program for Enforcement of Forests), an independent forest certification system. Chain of Custody certification tracks certified materials from sustainably managed forests, along the entire supply chain, to the final product. Amcor Sunclipse’s three corrugating plants in California meet the SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) requirements for secondary producers. They achieved on-product labelling certification in March 2009, with more than the minimum 66% of fibre content from SFI certified sources. In total, 63% of the virgin fibre used by Amcor globally is certified to one or more sustainable forest management systems, such as PEFC, SFI or FSC (Forest Stewardship Council).

Our award winning compostable packaging

Sainsbury’s SO Organic Wild Rocket salad packed in NaturePlus compostable film won the 2008 Bioplastics Award for ‘Best Bioplastics Application – Packaging’. Amcor is currently developing enhanced renewable and compostable packaging solutions for applications that make high demands on barrier structures, such as coffee.

Working together for recycling

As a result of a recent cooperation with Amcor Flexibles, UK retailer Sainsbury’s decided to convert its fresh produce bags from the currently non-recyclable polypropylene to recyclable polyethylene. The new polyethylene packs can be returned to the Sainsbury’s stores, where they will be collected for recycling.

Amcor’s Recyclable Mono-Material Chosen for Method Home Cleaning Wipes Package

Method Products, Inc., San Francisco, CA, has converted the packaging for its new line of bamboo cleaning wipes to a soft touch, mono-polymer film developed by Amcor Flexibles. The new package offers a 60% reduction in plastic usage compared to the canisters previously used by Method. The structure is a matte OPP/CPP film that offers a 6–17% weight reduction compared to traditional PET/PE laminates. ‘In developing a packaging solution for the Method bamboo wipes, we had three key objectives. Not only did the material need to process well on high speed sealing equipment with clean die cut areas, but it also needed to be environmentally friendly and have a soft, silky touch that appeals to consumers,’ commented Alex Hayden, Director of Technology for Amcor Flexibles North America. The new flexible flat pack is easy to stack, so retailers are able to fit more products in the allotted space on shelves, compared to rigid canisters. Amcor was selected as a finalist in the Green Packaging category of the HBA International Package Design Awards held in September this year.

New Site Considers EnviroAction

Amcor Sunclipse’s new distribution and manufacturing division located in Newark, California shows how all aspects of EnviroAction can come together. Instead of starting from the ground up they upgraded an existing facility, and the remodelling process included numerous green considerations such as recycling of drywall, steel, gypsum and e-waste components. Additionally, the facility is equipped with appliances and fixtures geared toward reducing electricity and water use. (picture)

ISO 14001 accreditation in Malaysia

Amcor’s manufacturing site in Malaysia achieved ISO 14001 accreditation in 2006/07. The accreditation has been the basis for continued awareness training for co-workers and suppliers on the need to maintain an environmentally sustainable workplace. Employee engagement activities such as contests and presentations are used to keep compliance knowledge high.

Material Substitution

Amcor Flexibles Food and Australasia are working to reduce the carbon embodied in their raw materials by downgauging or replacing aluminium foil with metallised films or other polymers which will still meet the customer’s requirements. In the last 12 months aluminium reduction has decreased Scope 3 emissions by over 250 t CO2, a reduction equivalent to the CO2 generated by 70 cars in one year.

Picking the low hanging fruit in Malaysia

Amcor Malaysia has saved power and the need for capital investment by fixing leakage points on their air compressor. This approach reduced compressor load and removed the need for replacement. The site has improved their lighting and saved energy at the same time by replacing their existing florescent starter-ballast systems to an electronic ballast system. Energy efficiency is also a criteria in their equipment purchases.

Simple changes. Big results

Amcor Singapore has reduced greenhouse gas emissions associated with disposing of its cartonboard waste by 60 per cent. A new waste baling system allows each disposal truck to transport three times as much waste, reducing the number of truck trips from 563 per year to 225, a saving of 338 trips. Another simple idea at Amcor Malaysia sees paper that is used reel-to-reel during printing press setup being re-used for the next setup of the machine, resulting in paper savings and less waste.

Recycling manufacturing consumables and buying in bulk

The Amcor manufacturing site in Malaysia switched from using virgin to recycled Ethyl Acetate for cleaning printing machinery. This represents 35-40 per cent of the Ethyl Acetate used on the site, with virgin product still being used for product manufacture. The same site uses large quantities of Over Print Varnish for their operations. This was previously purchased in 20 kg plastic drums. By making the switch to purchasing the product in tote tanks of a 1000 kg capacity, the site not only reduced costs but also reduced the number of deliveries and thus carbon emissions from transport. The tote tank is reused over and over again, whereas the 20 kg drums used previously were single-use. Another waste reduction exercise resulted in the re-use of pallets, with each one being used approximately three times to deliver product to customers and return. Packaging materials and methods are continuously evaluated to look for improvements.