Product stewardship and recycling
The products we manufacture help society in many ways. But the processes involved – from harvesting raw materials to ultimate disposal – have an environmental impact that we are determined to minimise.
Product lifecycle
From growing, harvesting and purchasing our raw materials, through our industrial production processes to branding and distribution, we are committed to providing our customers with the products they need at the lowest possible financial, environmental and social costs.
We have in place a range of systems that seek to reduce the impact of our operations. These include sustainable forestry practices, a commitment to constantly improving the environmental performance of our plants, recycling initiatives, global employment standards and integrated support programmes for the communities where we operate.
We believe the main commercial purpose for sustainability in the paper market is the need to reduce risk – for investors, for the NGOs and governments that observe our activities, for our customers, our consumers, our communities and even for our employees.
Assessing the sustainability practices of a supplier has become a standard element of procurement practice among large businesses, for government contracts in particular. The ability to demonstrate that we are taking steps across a broad range of sustainability issues is therefore important both in winning such business and in demonstrating our credentials to current and potential investors.
Rising to the packaging challenge
In our packaging businesses, the main challenge we face is how to continue improving product and consumer protection while consistently driving down the financial and environmental costs of our operations.
This involves a sensitive balancing act for us. Accusations of over-packaging and financial considerations are causing many of our customers to demand constant reductions in the weight and cost of their packaging, which in turn can deliver environmental gains.
Growth in green procurement practices is a fundamental issue for us, and we are concentrating on ensuring that we can consistently meet this fast-developing need. We must always ensure that the solutions we produce remain sufficiently robust to protect properly the products their contain - which almost invariably represent a higher financial and environmental cost than their packaging.
This is where the role of product innovation fits in. One of our Research and Development centres, based in Korneuburg in Austria, is dedicated to innovation across our coating & release and flexible packaging business, but can also provide services to other part of the Group.
Click here to read our Product Stewardship Policy.
Last change: 18/03/2008