Liquibox publishes first sustainability report, targets 50% slash in landfill waste

28 Apr 2021 --- UK liquid packaging specialist Liquibox has released its first sustainability report following Earth Day, an annual celebration highlighting the importance of environmental protection.

Liquibox’s report highlights some of the company’s central achievements from 2020 and outlines the company’s 2025 environmental sustainability goals.

“One of the major challenges we face in achieving our sustainability goals is working with the industry to advance the current recycling infrastructure,” Alexis Swanson, global sustainability and communications manager at Liquibox, tells PackagingInsights.

“While recycling capabilities are expanding, we need to continue investing in flexible film recycling programs so they are accessible to all consumers.”

“This is a proud moment for Liquibox as we drive toward a safer and more sustainable future. We hope that the official release of our Sustainability Report motivates others in the industry to take action and offers an opportunity for partnership across the supply chain.”

Progress to date
Last year, the company grew when it acquired the DS Smith Plastics Division, resulting in nine additional operational plants joining the organization. The move increased production capacity and adapted and unified its operations “without slowing readiness to respond to demand.”

This year, the company released Liquipure, a portfolio of mono-material packaging products aligning with global design guidelines for flexible packaging, such as those laid out by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Ceflex and the Association of Plastics Recyclers.

Liquibox says it has reduced its total energy use by nearly ten million kWh – roughly equivalent to the carbon emissions of 1,500 cars driven for one year.

Collaborations
Among Liquibox’s main achievements in 2020 was helping companies reduce their material use in packaging applications.

Liquibox is focusing on material reductions in its bag in box products.Key areas targeted by the company were lightweight, downgauging, designing for recycling and recovery, and materials with a low environmental impact.

A cheese supplier to the largest UK bakery chains and food manufacturing companies chose flexible bags supplied by Liquibox to minimize their environmental impact by eliminating unnecessary waste typically sent to the landfill.

By replacing the rigid buckets with a 60 g Liquipure lite bag, the company was able to reduce its plastic use from 252 tons to 42 tons annually, notes the report.

Similarly, a leading UK supplier and manufacturer of frozen drinks, Polar Krush, asked Liquibox to change its packaging from single-use plastic bottles to a more efficient and sustainable solution.

“Not only is the system easier to use, but it also falls in line with the broader Polar Krush policy to remove harmful single-use plastics from the brand,” says the Polar Krush sales director.

A 48 percent reduction in weight with the new UpTap Worldwide Dispensers, part of Liquibox, was also recorded.

Developed as a next-generation dispensing tap for large PET beverage bottles, improvements were made to the UpTap design to reduce the plastic content and fitment weight by 48 percent while minimizing the component pieces to facilitate recycling. These changes result in a 20 percent reduction in transport costs due to the optimized size.

2025 targets
The company’s main targets for 2025 include cutting waste production by 50 percent. To achieve this, each of its plants has waste reduction strategies in place to minimize waste sent to landfills, with some sites already achieving zero-waste-to-landfill status.

In Auckland, New Zealand, its plant worked in partnership with Replas to convert polyethylene waste into new products such as fencing and shipping container slip sheets.

By Louis Gore-Langton

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