Ball announces new aluminum can circularity and employee diversity targets

02 Jul 2021 --- Ball has announced new environmental sustainability targets, including a commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions before 2050 and transitioning to 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030.

The corporation will also ensure all aluminum is purchased from certified sustainable sources and convert 80 percent of its global beverage can volumes to its lightweight STARcan designs.

The plan is focused on enhancing product stewardship and social impact with a long-term vision of creating value for stakeholders, together with a strategy for how industry partners can collaborate to achieve a circular aluminum beverage packaging system.

The targets and industry plan come following the company’s findings earlier this year, showing a mere 25 percent of aluminum cans in the US get recycled. Ball subsequently described the country’s recycling system as “broken.” The research also revealed widespread public support for improving aluminum recycling rates.

Toward a perfect cycle
Ball also shared “Toward A Perfect Circle,” an industry vision outlining how beverage brands, retailers, and aluminum beverage packaging manufacturers and their suppliers could make aluminum cans, bottles, and cups – the world’s most recycled beverage containers – surpass a 90 percent recycling rate.

Today’s rate is 69 percent globally, despite recycled aluminum using only 5 percent of the energy compared to virgin material. Recycled cans also have the potential to be back on the shelf in as little as 60 days.Ball envisions a future in which over 90% of aluminum cans are recycled.

Ball says it will drive multi-stakeholder action to achieve this vision, including developing a low-carbon roadmap for the aluminum beverage packaging sector. The company will also advocate for investment in infrastructure and technology to support a more effective and efficient recycling system in the regions where it operates.

“Ball has a responsibility to our stakeholders and the planet to improve the environmental performance, social impact and economic returns of our business and take a leading role in driving industry-wide solutions to the climate crisis,” says John Hayes, Ball’s chairman and CEO.

Boosting inclusion
Adding to the company’s environmental, corporate and social governance (ESG) programs, Ball is also expanding its diversity, inclusion and social programs with specific 2025 goals for each region and business.

For example, Ball Beverage Packaging South America has committed to increasing the proportion of non-white employees it hires from 31 to 47 percent. Ball Beverage Packaging EMEA also plans to increase the representation of women in manufacturing roles by achieving a 25 percent recruitment rate.

Ball rolling
Last year, Ball earned the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative certification for all 23 of its Europe, Middle East and Africa beverage can plants.

The company also partnered last year with Kroenke Sports and Entertainment to launch aluminum packaging recycling systems and educational initiatives in three major sports stadiums in the US and UK. The move comes as part of Ball’s efforts to reduce single-use plastic waste in the sports industry.

Edited

By Louis Gore-Langton

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