Smurfit Kappa has announced that it achieved a 26% reduction in CO2 emissions three years ahead of time, according to its annual Sustainable Development Report.
The international packaging leader set the target last year to reduce fossil CO2 emissions in its mill system by 25% by 2020.
While the products that Smurfit Kappa makes are renewable and recyclable, the company admitted that paper production itself is quite energy intensive. The company is using renewable fuel sources like biomass where feasible.
Tony Smurfit, Group CEO said, "2017 was yet another year with a strong performance on sustainability metrics for Smurfit Kappa and I am confident this will continue into the future. In the next five years, we plan to allocate significant capital to projects that will contribute further towards lowering our environmental footprint and we will continue to invest significant resources in the development, safety and wellbeing of our people.
“This report is also evidence of our industry-leading transparency and demonstrates how Smurfit Kappa is making progress in supporting the UN’s 2030 Sustainability Development Goals.”
The Complete Package
The 2017 Sustainable Development Report also highlighted other key achievements including reaching two other targets in 2017.
The first was a reduction in the chemical oxygen demand in its water, also reached three years early, and the second was in the area of health and safety with a 9% reduction year-on-year in lost time accident frequency rate over the five year period of 2013-2017, exceeding the targeted decrease of 5% year-on-year for the same period.
Steven Stoffer, Group VP Development at Smurfit Kappa, added, “For Smurfit Kappa, sustainability is not only about mitigating climate change and reducing inefficiency. For packaging to be truly sustainable, it must be produced and designed in a sustainable fashion and be biodegradable within a relatively short time after multiple usages. This results in minimal impact on the planet.
“Paper-based packaging is uniquely positioned to do this, and we strongly support the growing concern and efforts to put an end to the increasing mass of non-biodegradable, primarily plastic packaging floating in our oceans. This is why we believe that paper is the future of packaging.”
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
