No doubt the plastic packaging industry is going through transformational chances towards sustainability. This transformation should be seen as a chance not as a threat. TG PACK SOLUTIONS helps the packaging value chain to achieve their sustainability goals.
We need to look at sustainability holistically and at the same time we have to take in consideration the specific requirements of the individual companies in a flexible way. There is no one-fits-all solution existing. It is mandatory to evaluate always what activities make sense for a certain company to achieve in the best way concrete, significant and noticeable sustainability improvements.
TG PACK SOLUTIONS recommends to break down the whole sustainability theme for companies producing plastic packaging into 9 Areas of Sustainability Activities: materials, products, production and company foot print, people, customer, targets and KPIs, communication, regulation and external collaboration.
Within these 9 Areas of Sustainability Activities you can work out specifically for each and every single company custom-fit and relevant actions to improve the sustainability. Below you find five examples:
- Increasing the use of recycled plastic can be a great lever for one company to increase sustainability. In contrast for another company this can be irrelevant because of constrains in terms of technology or restrictions from product which will be packed (e.g. food contact packaging).
- For an electricity intense operation, the use of CO2 neutral electricity (green electricity) can significantly reduce the CO2 foot print of the company, in many cases at reasonable on-cost. Such switch can be done in steps if needed.
- Customer oriented sustainability certification (e.g. EcoVadis) is as important as to follow the relevant regulatory changes for example new supply chain laws in various countries like Germany or Switzerland.
- From a sustainability strategy we can derive goals to be monitored by KPIs. This brings clarity and transparency.
- External and internal communication has always a very important role to play in the sustainability arena. “Walk the talk and talk the walk”. Sustainability communication is not only essential towards our markets and customers but as well in terms of employer branding: the attractivity of an employer for existing and potential new employees. Attracting the best people is of growing concern in our industry.
These are just five examples from a big bunch of possibilities to improve the sustainability of a plastic packaging company. Every sustainability program needs to be tailormade for the individual company concerned thus relevant and impactful.
The transformation of our industry towards sustainability is essential I would even say this transformation is essential for the survival of the industry as such and of each and every single company. The potential solutions are many, they have to be actionable and have to make a difference. TG PACK SOLUTIONS supports plastic packaging producer on this journey.
Dr. Thomas Gröner founded in 2021 TG PACK SOLUTIONS an independent result-focused consultancy to the packaging value chain the area of Sustainability, Innovation and Business Development with a special expertise in flexible packaging. Dr. Thomas Gröner builds on his more than 30 years industry experience: lately as Director R&D and Sustainability at RKW SE, until 2018 he served as Head of R&D and Innovation for the global activities in flexible packaging of Mondi and before he had various European positions in packaging R&D with Nestlé the world largest food company.