10 Apr 2023 --- A sustainability report is the essential tool in communicating corporate social responsibility goals and actions to any organization’s stakeholders, from employees to customers to financial institutions. Increasingly, potential recruits value the environmental performance – and social values – of a company they’re considering, customers are keen to work with suppliers that align with their goals, and banks are using these reports as part of their assessment when making financial decisions. With the packaging industry at the sharp end of the pointy finger of sustainability for some time, it makes perfect sense that packaging manufacturers take creating and publishing their sustainability reports seriously.
A recent report from global management consulting firm McKinsey calls the global megatrend of sustainability in packaging a “general awakening” that shows no sign of slowing down, with all packaging manufacturers and brands that source packaging needing to “implement processes to address future requirements proactively.”
This appreciation of the seriousness of sustainability in packaging is also reflected in the report’s analysis that “83% of the legal measures relating to sustainable packaging worldwide focus on plastics,” with plastic beverage packaging leading the way in terms of accountability, according to the report.
The global beverage brands that use plastic packaging know that the quantifiable sustainability of their products, which is largely governed by the packaging, is a major factor in consumer choice, so it makes sense that these brands are driving their packaging suppliers to publish an annual sustainability report in a recognized format.
Creating an obligation
With so much at stake, it’s understandable that plastic packaging manufacturers for the F&B industry want to be sure that their annual sustainability reports are accurate, easy to understand, and effectively communicate their position and mitigating actions regarding their environmental and social impacts, even before the EU Directive makes it an obligation. Emmanuel Duffaut is the sustainability director at Retal, a multinational plastic packaging producer serving many leading food and beverage brands. Duffaut has seen how the company’s annual sustainability report has evolved since he joined in 2018, tasked with defining and driving its sustainability actions.
He explains: “Producing a sustainability report is a massive undertaking – you must provide a significant amount of data and information in a way that is easy to read and which provides an accurate image of the company.”
“Everything starts with the collection and aggregation of data and information from each of our 12 plants throughout the year to answer the indicators required by the GRI standard. Then you must build the narrative of the report around how we manage CSR and our goals,
actions and results in the different sustainability topics.”
“Last but not least, you must make the report appealing and reader-friendly, easy to navigate, highlighting the key information and data in
each section and providing a positive image of Retal. Retal collaborates with professional writers and designers to ensure that its report will deliver its CSR information to all its stakeholders in the best possible way. In that respect, we also provide an executive summary.”
Read online in Packaging Insights
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The ISO50001:2018 energy certificate has recently been awarded to Retal Iberia following an external audit. Quality Manager Xavi Mora says, “This international standard is a tool to support us improve on energy consumption by developing and implementing an energy management system. The aim of this certification is to for continual improvement when it comes to energy consumption and efficiency.”
The process of gaining the certificate involved the whole of the Girona-based facility, with the production zone, offices, storehouses and all processes assessed. During the audit, different simulations were done to see what consumptions are the most important in the plant’s processes, giving an opportunity to identify improvement measures to increase efficiency.
This analysis was followed by an evaluation, with a strict process of documentation, checks and improvements implemented on the actual plant system. Only once this was complete, could the audit from the certification body be granted.
Mora adds, “Everybody is involved in this process; we all use energy, so everybody must know that they can contribute to reducing the energy consumption, from switching off the lights, changing the climatization of the different areas, reaching more efficient production procedures or implementing new controls or even changing some equipment for new ones. To reach new goals, we all have to participate!”
Read online at PET Planet
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RETAL’s near-term Science Based Targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), materializing this multinational plastic packaging producer’s commitment to mitigating its impact on climate change.
As stated in the certificate issued by SBTi and on its website: “RETAL commits to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 42% by 2030 from a 2020 base year. RETAL also commits that 93.9% of its suppliers by emissions covering purchased goods and services will have science-based targets by 2027.”
RETAL Sustainability Director Emmanuel Duffaut says, “This is a key development for a large manufacturer, and we will endeavor to reach these targets by implementing concrete actions to reduce our direct and indirect GHG emissions. It’s another great step forward in our management of climate change, alongside our commitment to set net-zero targets. Having our targets approved by SBTi shows we’re first in line in our industry.”
RETAL will continue to update its progress on this important journey.
For further information contact Maria Jarrar at media@retalgroup.com
RETAL’s Head of R&D Anton Sugoniaev will be participating in the Plastic Closures Innovations event in Barcelona.
From 13th – 15th June, this respected industry event, hosted by AMI, will take place, with many industry partners and decision makers present.
Sugoniaev will be delivering his presentation, entitled ‘Insight into Creating Successful Tethered Closures’, explaining how small technical and design elements can offer big benefits for tethered closure production.
He says, “I am looking forward to sharing how our journey to creating a range of tethered closures for our customers has evolved, showing the twists and turns of legislation, implementation and production to an audience of fellow packaging experts. It will also be a good opportunity to meet with people we know and who share our commitment to the role of progressive packaging in the circular economy.”
Back after six years, Interpack 2023, the ‘world’s leading packaging trade exhibition’, held in Dussedorf from 4th – 10th May, was worth waiting for.
The RETAL stand featured a wide range of product samples from across the complete range of flexible and rigid solutions from RETAL Baltic Films, with members of the sales team on hand to answer any questions.
Visitors to the stand enjoyed talking to the RETAL packaging experts, with wide-reaching conversations including questions on sustainability, recyclability, and chemical recycling.
Senior Marketing Manager Maria Jarrar says, “There was a friendly atmosphere at Interpack – everyone seemed happy to be back after such a long break. We were pleased to take the opportunity to answer questions, share samples of our rigid and flexible packaging solutions, and meet customers and potential customers. It was interesting to discuss topics including mono high barrier solution for FFS packaging and our 100% rPET rigid film and chemical recycling project. It was clear that sustainability is still the hot topic, with everyone keen to ask about how we’re making our portfolio as responsible as possible.”
Read online at Business Focus
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The ISO50001:2018 energy certificate has recently been awarded to RETAL Iberia following an external audit.
Quality manager Xavi Mora says, “This international standard is a tool to support us improve on energy consumption by developing and implementing an energy management system. The aim of this certification is to for continual improvement when it comes to energy consumption and efficiency.”
The process of gaining the certificate involved the whole of the Girona-based facility, with the production zone, offices, storehouses and all processes assessed. During the audit, different simulations were done to see what consumptions are the most important in the plant’s processes, giving an opportunity to identify improvement measures to increase efficiency.
Successful audit
This analysis was followed by an evaluation, with a strict process of documentation, checks and improvements implemented on the actual plant system. Only once this was complete, could the audit from the certification body be granted.
Mora adds, “Everybody is involved in this process; we all use energy, so everybody must know that they can contribute to reducing the energy consumption, from switching off the lights, changing the climatization of the different areas, reaching more efficient production procedures or implementing new controls or even changing some equipment for new ones. To reach new goals, we all have to participate!”
For further information contact Maria Jarrar at media@retalgroup.com
If the plastics packaging industry has learned anything since the turn of the decade, it is just how interconnected global supply chains are, and just how susceptible they are to external forces.
Read the article in Eco-Plastics in Packaging (page 28- 29)
The vast array of careers in the packaging industry can be hard to quantify as the technical opportunities sit alongside sales, administrative and financial, as well as business development, communications and R&D. Here is an insight into the career development of product quality expert Oleksandr Grynko, whose background in chemistry has seen his work life evolve into a senior management role with a multinational plastic packaging manufacturer.
Highly experienced and dedicated to integrating his extensive chemistry knowledge into his work, Oleksandr is thoughtful, considered and approachable.
Growing up in a small city in the centre of Ukraine, Oleksandr starts by sharing his education, and how his early inspiration led to his career in the packaging industry. He says, “After going to school in my home city, I moved to Dnipro, although it wasn’t called Dnipro then. Here, I studied at college for four years. I have loved chemistry since high school; I love to watch the process of one substance magically turning into another. There are countless chemistries – inorganic, organic, physical, quantum, analytical – and I chose analytical chemistry at college. But it wasn’t enough! So, I continued on to university and studied ‘trendy’ polymer chemistry and completed graduate school.”
Even though Oleksandr has always loved chemistry, he also dreamed of becoming a seaman as a child and travelling the world across the seas. But the ocean’s loss is the packaging industry’s gain, and he continued studying chemistry instead of taking to the waves.
Further studies in chemistry
After Oleksandr’s post graduate studies that saw him gain a PhD in Chemistry, adding analytical chemistry and chemistry of polymers to his ever-expanding knowledge, he took his first professional job in a large agricultural chemical company, where he was in charge of the chemical
laboratory.
Oleksandr continues, “This was only a two-month job, as I then joined the company that became RETAL in October 2000. The company was very different to what it is today, it was all just beginning. There have been so many big changes and I am pleased to be a part of it. There were only seven machines at the start! It’s great for me to always be involved in the process; building new factories, new opportunities, new developments...new, new, new!”
Initially the only engineer in the chemical laboratory and then progressing to chief of the lab with a responsibility for a team of experts, Oleksandr has enjoyed that his career development has run in parallel to the development of RETAL. He says, “I like to make the most of the opportunities I am given, but without making fast changes that are not carefully planned and assessed. That way, we can be sure that our progress is sustainable. I like to be involved with the progress of the laboratory and our capabilities - raw materials, closures development – to make the most of our equipment and the skills of the team.”
Having moved with his family to Klaipeda from Dnipro around eight years ago, Oleksandr is happy to continue with his outdoor hobbies of biking and fishing all together, no doubt looking out to sea and planning where their next travelling adventures will take them.
Read online at Eco-Plastics in Packaging
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The Klaipeda, Lithuania production site for RETAL Baltic Films has had its BRC Food Standard Safety certificate renewed for the fifth year in a row.
Granted the highest available AA grade, the global standard for food safety is for its rigid films, flexible films and print processes.
RETAL Baltic Films Head of Sales Violeta Rusecka explains, “It is crucial for us to maintain the very highest standard of food safety for our products and processes, so this certification is continued proof of that. We are continuing to expand our production and laboratory capabilities, in addition to our full FFS testing line and complete top and bottom lidding film offer, which also includes printing.”
Active across Europe, RETAL Baltic Films brings its wide range of rigid bottom films and top lidding films, including a mono high barrier, PE-free APET film in the final stages of development, which can be easily recyclable in standard collections.
The RETAL Baltic Films team will be presenting their complete portfolio at Interpack, at Stand C10, Hall 12.
For further information contact Maria Jarrar at media@retalgroup.com
The team of rigid and flexible film experts at RETAL Baltic Films has created a range of sustainable solutions for mono-packaging to support the recyclability goals of its customers in the food and film conversion markets. The APET and top-lidding films can be individually designed according to customers’ needs. The in-house packaging equipment installed at RETAL Baltic Films helps to cut downtime on customers’ production lines.
Particularly well suited to food safe packaging applications, the mono solution offers excellent resealability, helping to reduce food waste and cut food bills by keeping the product fresh after opening.
Vikorija Griziene, General Manager at RETAL Baltic Films, explained how the company has successfully created resealable packaging that is ideal for sliced cheeses and deli meats: “Developing resealable packaging is a huge technical challenge because it is important that the packaging offers the necessary barrier properties. Sliced cheese needs the right environment inside the packaging; no moisture but not too dry either, so the product has a good shelf life, even after it’s been opened and closed many times. We’ve conducted a wide range of technical trials to be sure that we can offer a range of top lidding and bottom film solutions that are both resealable and recyclable.”
These in-house technical trials highlight how sourcing both rigid-bottom and top-lidding films from one supplier means that the all-important reliability relationship between the two can be tested and guaranteed to deliver.
“Our customers in the dairy industry want to commit to sustainable packaging as much as we do,” Ms Griziene said, “so by working together to understand the performance requirements of resealable packaging for sliced cheese and harnessing our long-standing technical abilities in creating recyclable film, we’ve been able to make a full mono solution with high barrier properties, and a resealable top lidding solution using mono APET.”
Mono APET has a high potential for growth compared to other thermoformed polymers like PS and PP thanks to its toughness, dimensional stability and clarity. It can be moulded into practically any shape, and, because of its durability, it is ideal for sensitive applications such as food containers, beverage bottles and medical devices. Mono APET offers excellent barrier properties, food safety and is 100% recyclable.
“This innovation in food safe packaging gives our customers a choice,” concluded Ms Griziene. “As the bottom tray uses the most raw material, packaging producers have traditionally focused on making it recyclable. But to have a complete mono APET top and bottom solution for sliced cheeses and meats is really exciting. We understand the whole relationship; the sealing, the resealing. It’s a complete solution.”
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