The fourth sustainability report prepared by Alpla, the global specialist for innovative packaging solutions and recycling, illustrates the company’s progress in sustainable development between 2018 and 2020.
In its latest sustainability report entitled ‘The cycle to a better future begins with the right packaging,’ Alpla gives an extensive update on the topic of sustainability and the company’s targets. Chief executive officer Philipp Lehner sets out the key aspects of the strategy for the next few years and said, “I believe that Alpla as a company has a responsibility towards society to guarantee secure, affordable and sustainable supplies for the global population in the future too. At the same time, with a carbon footprint which is usually lower than that of alternative packaging solutions, plastic makes an important contribution to climate protection.”
Circular economy as a success factor
The circular economy has been an important part of Alpla’s sustainability strategy for many years. The company always champions closed loops and greater awareness of plastic as a recyclable material. After all, the use of recycled plastics conserves fossil resources and reduces carbon emissions.
For example, PET regrinds material from the Alpla plants in Austria and Poland cause up to 90 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than virgin material. With the input of around 2,06,000 tonnes of PET and approximately 88,000 tonnes of HDPE, Alpla’s own recycling plants and joint ventures around the world are, in total, contributing significantly to the use of recycled plastics in production.
Expansion of renewable energy
Electricity accounts for around 95 percent of Alpla’s total energy consumption. The company, therefore, sets great stores by the efficient and responsible use of electricity. In addition to using cutting-edge technologies, a key topic is increasing the proportion of electricity from renewable sources: ‘Globally speaking, we were already covering 28 percent of our electrical energy consumption with electricity from renewable sources in 2020, compared with 18 percent in 2019,’ says Martin Stark, director of Corporate Plant Engineering, giving an insight into the current developments.
Alpla also focuses on the employees
At Alpla, the focus is always on people. The safety, good health, and equal treatment of the 21,600 employees worldwide are top priorities. Alpla also sets great stores by continuing professional development, employee development, and training up a new generation of workers in its training workshops.
The Alpla Sustainability Award was initiated this year to spotlight the huge commitment to sustainability demonstrated by the employees daily. This involved projects in the areas of recycling and waste reduction, the protection of local ecosystems, and social issues being submitted and recognized.
In-house plants cut carbon emissions
In terms of production, it is important to Alpla that it acts locally. In 2020, 68 of its 178 sites were operated as in-house plants. Around 42,500 tonnes of carbon emissions were saved in 2020 by locating packaging production wall-to-wall with the customers’ bottling lines, thus eliminating transport journeys.
Growth in various regions
In addition to the Asia region (China, South East Asia, and India), the AMET region (Africa, Middle East, and Turkey), in particular, is one of Alpla’s strongest growth regions. Encouragingly, the topic of sustainability is gaining importance in this region. Christoph Hoffmann, director of corporate Strategy, Sustainability & Circular Economy, has the following to say on the current developments, “We are anticipating strong growth in the AMET region in particular, specifically in Africa. The task in hand is to implement now the recycling and waste management solutions that have been in place in Europe for some time in these regions.”
