ALPLA Group

ALPLA incre­asingly focu­sing on a cir­cular economy

Fourth sus­taina­bi­lity report illus­trates serious com­mit­ment to sus­tainable development

Hard, 23. November 2021 – The fourth sus­taina­bi­lity report pre­pared by ALPLA, the global spe­cia­list for inno­va­tive pack­a­ging solu­tions and recy­cling, illus­trates the pro­gress the com­pany made in the area of sus­tainable deve­lo­p­ment bet­ween 2018 and 2020.

In its latest sus­taina­bi­lity report entitled ‘The cycle to a better future begins with the right pack­a­ging’, ALPLA gives an exten­sive update on the topic of sus­taina­bi­lity and the company’s tar­gets. CEO Philipp Lehner sets out the key aspects of the stra­tegy for the next few years: ‘I believe that ALPLA as a com­pany has a respon­si­bi­lity towards society to gua­rantee secure, affordable and sus­tainable sup­plies for the global popu­la­tion in the future too. At the same time, with a carbon foot­print which is usually lower than that of alter­na­tive pack­a­ging solu­tions, pla­stic makes an important con­tri­bu­tion to cli­mate protection.’

Cir­cular eco­nomy as a suc­cess factor
The cir­cular eco­nomy has been an important part of ALPLA’s sus­taina­bi­lity stra­tegy for many years, with the com­pany always cham­pio­ning closed loops and greater awa­re­ness of pla­stic as a recy­clable mate­rial. After all, the use of recy­cled pla­s­tics con­serves fossil resources and reduces carbon emis­sions. For example, PET regrind mate­rial from the ALPLA plants in Aus­tria and Poland causes up to 90 per cent fewer green­house gas emis­sions than virgin mate­rial. With input of around 206,000 tonnes of PET and appro­xi­m­ately 88,000 tonnes of HDPE, ALPLA’s own recy­cling plants and joint ven­tures around the world are, in total, con­tri­bu­ting signi­fi­cantly to the use of recy­cled pla­s­tics in production.

Expan­sion of rene­wable energy
Elec­tri­city accounts for around 95 per cent of ALPLA’s total energy con­sump­tion. The com­pany the­r­e­fore sets great store by the effi­cient and respon­sible use of elec­tri­city. In addi­tion to using cutting-edge tech­no­lo­gies, a key topic is incre­asing the pro­por­tion of elec­tri­city from rene­wable sources: ‘Glo­bally spea­king, we were already cove­ring 28 per cent of our elec­trical energy con­sump­tion with elec­tri­city from rene­wable sources in 2020, com­pared with 18 per cent in 2019,’ says Martin Stark, Director of Cor­po­rate Plant Engi­nee­ring, giving an insight into the cur­rent developments.

Focus on the employees
At ALPLA, the focus is always on people. The safety, good health and equal tre­at­ment of the 21,600 employees around the world are top prio­ri­ties. ALPLA also sets great store by con­ti­nuing pro­fes­sional deve­lo­p­ment, employee deve­lo­p­ment and trai­ning up a new gene­ra­tion of workers in its trai­ning workshops.

The ALPLA Sus­taina­bi­lity Award was initiated this year to train a spot­light on the huge com­mit­ment to sus­taina­bi­lity demons­trated by the employees on a daily basis. This involved pro­jects in the areas of recy­cling and waste reduc­tion, the pro­tec­tion of local eco­sys­tems, and social issues being sub­mitted and recognised.

In-house plants cut carbon emissions
In terms of pro­duc­tion, it is important to ALPLA that it acts locally. In 2020, 68 of its 178 sites were ope­rated as in-house plants. Around 42,500 tonnes of carbon emis­sions were saved in 2020 by loca­ting pack­a­ging pro­duc­tion wall-to-wall with the cus­to­mers’ bot­t­ling lines, thus eli­mi­na­ting trans­port journeys.

Growth in various regions
In addi­tion to the Asia region (China, South East Asia and India), the AMET region (Africa, Middle East and Turkey) in par­ti­cular is one of ALPLA’s stron­gest growth regions. Encou­ra­gingly, the topic of sus­taina­bi­lity is gai­ning in importance in this region. Chris­toph Hoff­mann, Director of Cor­po­rate Stra­tegy, Sus­taina­bi­lity & Cir­cular Eco­nomy, has the fol­lo­wing to say on the cur­rent deve­lo­p­ments: ‘We are anti­ci­pa­ting strong growth in the AMET region in par­ti­cular, spe­ci­fi­cally in Africa. The task in hand is to now imple­ment the recy­cling and waste manage­ment solu­tions which have been in place in Europe for some time in these regions too.’

ALPLA sus­taina­bi­lity report 2020:
https://sustainability-report20.alpla.com/en

More infor­ma­tion about the company:
www.alpla.com, sustainability.alpla.com

 

About the ALPLA Group
ALPLA is one of the leading companies involved in plastic packaging. Around 21,600 employees worldwide produce custom-made packaging systems, bottles, caps and moulded parts at its 178 sites across 45 countries. The high-quality packaging is used in a wide range of areas, including for food and drinks, cosmetics and care products, household cleaning products, detergents and cleaning agents, pharmaceutical products, engine oils and lubricants.

ALPLA operates its own recycling plants for PET and HDPE in Austria, Poland, Mexico, Italy and Spain, and also in the form of joint ventures in Mexico and Germany. Other projects are being realised elsewhere around the world.

 

Enquiry infor­ma­tion for editorial:
ALPLA, Lukas Österle (Sus­taina­bi­lity Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Manager), tel.: +43 (0)5574 6022 132, email: lukas.oesterle@alpla.com
Pzwei. Pres­se­ar­beit, Joshua Köb, tel.: +43 (0)5574 4471 522, email: joshua.koeb@pzwei.at