In October, Coveris Group’s 29 sites in the EMEA region celebrated its second No Waste Week. The event was centred around Coveris’ recently awarded NO WASTE vision which is focused on the avoidance of product waste, packaging waste and operational waste. To achieve this, Coveris has established a detailed understanding of its waste hierarchy and continually looks at ways to reduce waste further across all operations.
During Coveris’ first No Waste Week in 2021, more than 60 local projects took place across all sites and activities ranged from litter picking, educational sessions, recycling, gardening and planting. No Waste Week 2022 continued this success with 80 activities taking place across Coveris’ sites focusing on the reduction of energy consumption, such as re-using heat generated during production to warm sites and the inspection of utilities to find new ways to save water and electricity. Some sites also engaged in local community activities such as school garden refurbishments, waste sorting and collections, and site cleanings.
Phillip Pap, Coveris’ Director of Corporate Development and Sustainability said, “In the last 18 months we have seen that the success of our No Waste journey is because all levels of our organisation are involved – from our management board to our forklift drivers. No Waste Week is a celebration of our team members’ commitment to the cause and is a way to engage local communities to join us.”
Locally green, internationally sustainable
The success of Coveris’ No Waste strategy is aided by the involvement of local Green Teams, organised by each site, to implement their own creative ideas, as well as the ideas collected by Coveris’ monthly No Waste Champion competition. As a result, Coveris has kicked off over 100 initiatives across the group to reduce waste in all its forms. Activities range from making Coveris’ packaging solutions more recyclable, to improving waste management across sites, and optimising the use of input materials to minimise Coveris’ carbon footprint. On a group level, Coveris is committed to investing in green energy and is focused on increasing renewable energy use across its sites. Recent achievements include Coveris Kufstein generating 100% of its power from renewable sources, Coveris Alexandria sourcing power from water energy and Coveris Pirtó switching to renewable energy. Coveris’ newly introduced Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) tool will serve as the basis to provide information on the eco-performance of our packaging solutions and provide fact-based advice to customers.