Alpla pledges to reduce carbon footprint by 10%

Austrian packaging giant Alpla has committed to reducing its carbon footprint by 10% by 2022, compared to the 2018 baseline.
 
In its latest sustainability report released 17 July, the company said it was able to reduce its carbon footprint during the 2016-2018 reporting period, “albeit not as much as planned.”
 
“We experienced more growth than expected in countries with carbon-intensive electricity production,’ explained Linda Mauksch, sustainability officer at Alpla since 2012.
 
The sustainability report, however, outlined “very positive” achievements elsewhere, saying Alpla reduced energy consumption in relation to production volumes by 6.6% compared to the 2015 baseline.
 
The company has also reduced the consumption of fresh water in relation to material usage by 40% since 2011.
 
Alpla also said that it “far exceeded” its target for using recycled materials but did not offer details.
 
As part of its sustainability programme, Alpla said 72 of its 178 global plants were “in-house”, meaning they are directly part of the customer’s operations. This approach reduces transport routes and carbon emissions.
 
Additionally, Alpla pointed to several flagship initiatives in the area of product development: bottles made entirely of recyclate; home-compostable coffee capsule and the Simple One, a HDPE bottle that is up to 60% lighter than standard bottles. 
 
From 2022, the company said it was planning to bring at least three innovations to the market each year.
 
As part of its New Plastics Economy commitment, Alpla has pledged to manufacture 100% recyclable products by 2025. To that end, it is  and investing €50m in the expansion of its recycling activities.
 
With production currently at 70,000 tonnes of food-grade PET recyclates per year, Alpla intends to increase the volume of processed post-consumer recycled materials by 25% by 2025.