Smurfit Kappa UK is leading the packaging field as the only integrated packaging manufacturer to achieve Carbon Trust Standard across the whole of the packaging cycle by certifying the carbon footprint of its Paper and Recycling divisions.
Combined with Smurfit Kappa Packaging Division’s Carbon Trust Standard, awarded in April 2010, Smurfit Kappa is the only packaging organisation that has had both its packaging and paper divisions certified. The Carbon Trust Standard now covers Smurfit Kappa’s complete packaging cycle from the recovery of fibre through paper manufacture and sheetfeeding to conversion and back again.
As well as its initiatives to cut carbon emissions certified under the Carbon Trust Standard, Smurfit Kappa has also achieved PEFC and FSC certification. These sustainability credentials cover all of its UK manufacturing plants and are the most comprehensive ever achieved by a single packaging manufacturer.
The successful implementation of the independently audited Carbon Trust Standard ensures that brand owners and retailers who source packaging from the organisation have an in-depth knowledge of its carbon footprint. It also reinforces the unique strengths that integrated production offers those wishing to purchase sustainable packaging to support their corporate and brand positioning.
The latest award of the Carbon Trust Standard covers two paper plants at Smurfit Kappa Townsend Hook, Kent and Smurfit Kappa SSK in Birmingham, and the eight recovered fibre collection locations of Tamworth based, Smurfit Kappa Recycling. These now join Smurfit Kappa’s 25 UK wide sites that make up Smurfit Kappa UK’s Packaging Division.
Monika Maciejewska, Sustainability Manager, Smurfit Kappa Paper UK, comments; “Smurfit Kappa has a global commitment to sustainability and the latest Carbon Trust Standard certification for the business is just another step in presenting our customers with the highest levels of support. Measuring our Carbon Footprint and showing continuing improvements in reducing it through making our business more efficient is an increasingly important customer benchmark”.
Harry Morrison, General Manager, at the Carbon Trust Standard, said: “Achieving the Carbon Trust Standard shows that Smurfit Kappa is taking serious and credible steps to manage their carbon footprint. Based on a rigorous, independently assessed methodology, the Carbon Trust Standard allows organisations to talk with integrity to their stakeholders, consumers and investors about what they have been doing to reduce their carbon emissions. We congratulate Smurfit Kappa on its achievement.”
To gain Carbon Trust Standard, Smurfit Kappa Paper Division showed a 12.9% reduction of tCO2e/£mn (Tonnes of CO2 equivalent, the standard measurement for describing how much global warming a given type and amount of greenhouse gas may cause). Over the two-year period of assessment, efficiency innovations within the paper division included the introduction of Biogas and improvements to stock preparation. Across the group, the integration of transport fleets has significantly reduced road mileage and improved ‘back-haul’ efficiency.
Monika Maciejewska explains; “Smurfit Kappa has adopted the industry benchmarked Sustainability Model and tailored it to our business requirements, in order to achieve long-term business growth whilst also providing an integrated approach to Social Sustainability, Economic Sustainability and Environmental Sustainability. Our aim is to control and effectively manage the recovery and recycling of paper based packaging so that we can minimise the carbon footprint of the process, whilst also speeding up the process. From a brand owner’s perspective this provides another indicator of its pro-active environmental awareness that can be conveyed to consumers.”
To reinforce further the importance of sustainability to brand owners, and to acknowledge Smurfit Kappa’s leadership on the subject, it was awarded Coca-Cola Enterprises’ 2010 Supplier Award for ‘Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Supplier’ and Unilever Partner to Win, 2011 supplier awards in the ‘Winning through Sustainability’ category. This recognises suppliers who have helped Unilever to create competitive supply chains delivering tangible benefits to Unilever’s brands, consumers or customers. It rewards those who are making positive contributions.
Smurfit Kappa UK
Khalsa Hughes, UK Marketing Manager
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