Sustainability practices at Industrial Packaging

We manufacture our products as efficiently as possible. The majority of the products we manufacture are fibre or cardboard, made with mainly renewable materials; requiring much less water or energy use than alternatives made of other materials; and producing much less emissions.

(The European Association of Fibre Drum Manufacturers lists the full environmental qualities of fibre drums and commitments of their European producers.) Still, we have energy efficiency and emissions reduction targets in production, as throughout our operations.

We also constantly think about how to make our product range even more environmentally friendly, to help our customers be more sustainable and extend our impact beyond our walls. For example, in 2021, we further improved the climate credentials of our Enviroloc drum, by removing the plastic base reinforcement option, making these drums fully kraft. In 2022, we invested in 68 reusable racks and changed from delivering our cardboard cores on pallets, stretch-wrapped and strapped, to delivering them on these racks, to reduce plastic packaging waste.

In addition to manufacturing our own products, we distribute products manufactured by others. When we enter into these partnerships, we inform ourselves about these producers’ sustainability practices, aiming to work with companies who are as committed as we are. You can find more information about the commitments of the main suppliers of our plastic industrial containers on their respective websites: Greif and Curtec. We have also started in recent years to supply reconditioned containers from Packaging Laundry, to encourage packaging reuse, in a move towards a more circular economy.

We also endeavour to offer options where possible. While sustainable fibre and long-lasting steel drum options exist for larger quantities, plastic has long been the only strong and cost-effective option for smaller quantities. We resolved to source a robust and economically viable alternative – and in 2022 we added tinplate pails to our range as a possible substitute for plastic pails, small drums and buckets. Metal is a good choice of material where sustainability is concerned – it’s robust enough to be recycled, again and again, maintaining its integrity. Today, about 80% of metal packaging is recycled in Europe.

MEASURABLE TARGETS

Not only have we processes in place to ensure compliance with all Irish and EU legislative requirements on a continuous basis, but we also continually assess activities with the specific goal of preventing pollution and minimising environmental impact. We set measurable annual targets to help us improve all the time. This results in undertakings such as replacing old equipment, altering processes to reduce energy demand and implementing energy efficiency practices throughout the premises, where possible.

A recent example is the implementation, throughout our factories and production areas, of LED lighting which automatically adjust up and down depending on the amount of natural light coming into the factory through the roof. This has reduced energy consumption on lighting by 20%. Our next step is to install solar panels on the roofs of both factories to power our lighting and production. We hope to achieve this by 2024.  

Read also about recent investment in new machinery, to make our production more efficient.