Global plastic packaging manufacturer RETAL shows its vocal sustainability commitment is rapidly heading in the right direction with an over 13% increase in its EcoVadis score in just one year.
To achieve this increase, RETAL has implemented a range of actions, including a company-wide Sustainable Procurement Programme, which has led to a 6-point increase in the latest EcoVadis score, taking RETAL to within the top 25% of companies assessed.
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Global plastic packaging manufacturer Retal states that its vocal sustainability commitment is heading in the right direction with an over 13% increase in its EcoVadis score in just one year.
According to Retal’s Sustainability Director Emmanuel Duffaut, the score is the latest milestone in the company’s ongoing focus on a multi-stakeholder, value chain approach to ensuring its plastic packaging is as sustainable, responsible and transparent as possible.
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Closures are literally the backstop of preforms. With the perfect preform only as good as its closure, one knows that a closure has many responsibilities, from ease of opening to effective protection of the product within. Closures need to perform in partnership with the preform, both from an application and an environmental perspective. Even if a closure is consumer- and product-friendly, recent legislation on tethered closures highlight how crucial it is that designs are also in accordance with the circular economy.
The EU directive on Single Use Plastics in May 2019 highlighted design requirements to connect caps to bottles from 2024, with regulations extending from the Circular Plastics Alliance launched in December 2018 by the European Commission. This high-level, multi-stakeholder platform gathers the complete plastics value chain to ensure the responsible progression of plastic packaging throughout its entire lifecycle.
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Global plastic packaging manufacturer RETAL shows its vocal sustainability commitment is rapidly heading in the right direction with an over 13% increase in its EcoVadis score in just one year.
To achieve this increase, RETAL has implemented a range of actions, including a company-wide Sustainable Procurement Programme, which has led to a 6-point increase in the latest EcoVadis score, taking RETAL to within the top 25% of companies assessed. Transparency through the publication of RETAL's first CSR report, the third-party verification of its corporate carbon footprint, its participation to CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) climate change survey (B score), and the establishment of partnerships in the plastic circular economy have also played a significant role.
RETAL's Sustainability Director Emmanuel Duffaut is clear that the score is the latest milestone in the company's global objective to integrate CRS, in a multi-stakeholder, value chain approach to ensuring its plastic packaging solutions are as sustainable, responsible and transparent as possible, and continue to be the preferred partner to its customers.
EcoVadis is 'the world's most trusted provider of business sustainability ratings, intelligence and collaborative performance improvement tools for global supply chains' and is widely used by global companies as a platform to assess their suppliers’ CSR performance and identify risks in their supply chains.
Duffaut says, “In our first Sustainability Report, published in 2019, we clearly set out our intention to reach a total EcoVadis score of 65% by 2022 (advanced level), and I'm proud to say that this latest score shows we are well on target to achieve it. We went from Bronze to Silver in one year, so we are going for Gold by 2022!”
Duffaut continues, “EcoVadis is an efficient way to demonstrate our CSR performance to our customers but also to the rest of our stakeholders, and it is also a tool for improvement. It's a welcome, recognised method of proving that global manufacturers have achieved and continue to achieve a high level of performance. As a Silver level EcoVadis score company, RETAL can quickly communicate to our global food and beverage brand customers that we meet their strict requirements.”
RETAL PA in Donora, Pennsylvania was delighted to host a Women's Business Enterprise Center East Industry Day this December.
With the aim of supporting and promoting women-owned businesses by connecting them with corporations and Government suppliers, the WBEC organisation actively encourages incorporating Diversified Suppliers to connect and network.
RETAL PA's Finance Manager Anthony Langel and HR Manager Elizabeth Giecek were instrumental in contacting WBEC to see how the company could positively promote Diversified Suppliers in its supply chain network. Giecek says, “We work with a number of leading global brands that put great emphasis on working with vendors that support Diversified Suppliers, so we were keen to learn more and see how this positive initiative could be mutually beneficial, while helping to promote this excellent organisation in our local community.”
Langel continues, “WBEC East’s President reached out to see if RETAL PA would be interested in hosting its latest Manufacturing Industry Day, which is a round table discussion with panelists representing local companies and potential vendors that are all WBE (Women Owned Businesses).”
The morning-long event included a Meet & Greet, Q&A session and a presentation from RETAL, as well as a tour of the facility and a shared lunch. Langel notes, “We were very happy to be complemented on our bright factory as well as our commitment to taking steps to incorporate diversified spend into our supply chain.”
The RETAL team was pleased to report that the event identified potential vendors that will help to bring more diversification to RETAL PA, supporting its promise to global brands and enabling a more inclusive workplace.
Producing the perfect preform is part of a work in progress; a circular and sustainable preform that allows consumers to enjoy convenience and brands to reduce their environmental impact needs stakeholders across the packaging value chain to take responsibility for their sphere of influence. For preform producers, understanding that their sphere of influence is active on both macro and micro levels means that producing the perfect preform is an exciting challenge.
When it comes to develop preforms, global plastic packaging producer Retal draws in experts from design, recycling and production. These experts come both from within the company and from its vast network of multinational food and beverage brands. The core of a perfect preform lies in valuing the circularity of plastics packaging, states the company: rather than seeing the preform as a one-use unit, it should be seen as a potential source of ongoing value.
Global PET, rPET and HDPE packaging producer RETAL presented its innovative tethered closures at this month's BrauBeviale trade show.
Suitable for water, carbonated soft drinks and aseptic products, tethered closures from RETAL manage to connect the two key industry drivers of sustainability and convenience, enabling its global beverage brand customers to stay in line with the latest EU directive for single use plastics.
Tethered closures increase collection and reduce waste by keeping the closure attached to the bottle. The RETAL tethered closures also provide enhanced convenience for consumers thanks to the clever way in which it opens, creating a smooth contact.
Aleksandr Kachanov, R&D director at RETAL, explains, “We gained the patent certificates in June 2019 for our tethered closures. RETAL is one of very few closure manufacturers that has developed and invested in this special solution – it's the embodiment of the RETAL dedication to creating responsible solutions that are user-friendly. It's not just a response to the EU SUP Directive, our tethered closures aide consumer convenience as they're easy and comfortable to use.”
RETAL packaging development expert Anton Sugoniaev adds, “Thanks to our clever design, our brand owner customers and bottlers are unlikely to need investment in new solutions when they chose tethered closures from RETAL as we utilise our existing injection moulding equipment.”
Initially created for the standard 1881 caps, the RETAL tethered closure portfolio will extend across its range. Kachanov, the inventor of the patent, adds, “We will deliver tethered closures with the same impressive performance soon for virtually all our closure range”.
RETAL’s Sustainability Director Emmanuel Duffault also explains how the new tethered closures help to support the company’s progressive CSR goals, which includes design-to-recycle and use of recycled material, saying, “We have employees worldwide and we are all conscious of and worried about the negative environmental impact of our products. Tethered closures are part of our effort towards a circular economy as they mean that the HDPE closure is not separated from the plastic bottle and so is less likely to cause additional plastic pollution.”
BrauBeviale 2019 highlighted the sustainability potential of collaboration across the beverage value chain, with the RETAL team proud to present its tethered closure solutions alongside innovation ideas from key industry stakeholders.
European Marketing Manager Mariya Ushakova says, “There was a great energy at BrauBeviale 2019; everyone knows that sustainability is crucial to our ongoing success, both as businesses and as individuals, so to see exciting products and solutions from the whole of the beverage industry value chain was inspiring.”
RETAL presented its two patented tethered closure solutions at BrauBeviale, with plenty of samples available to illustrate how the expertly-designed tethered caps are both responsible and easy to use, particularly as they have a smooth edge that makes drinking more comfortable for end users. The whole range of RETAL's established portfolio was also available.
RETAL's stand was created by certified-sustainable trade fair construction company Mesomondo, who confirmed that RETAL's stand was CO2 neutral.
Ushakova adds, “We would like to thank everyone that came to visit our informative stand; it was good to see customers and potential customers and talk about our tethered closures as well as discussing the issues that are impacting on us all. It feels like a new wave of collaborative understanding of how we can all support the circular economy and RETAL is delighted to be a part of it.”
Global PET packaging manufacturer RETAL has signed the Circular Plastics Alliance Declaration, adding its voice to the global shift towards sustainable and circular plastic packaging, and heightened demand for firms to take the lead in their production.
Launched in December 2018 by the European Commission, the Circular Plastics Alliance advocates for the plastics industry to move to a circular economy model. The CPA’s immediate goal is to ensure that more than 10 million tonnes of recycled plastic find their way into plastic products made within the EU every year by 2025.
Yuri Khmara, a member of RETAL’s Board of Directors, stressed that strong, high-level value-chain partnerships and collaboration are key to ensuring plastic pollution is successfully addressed. “As demand for plastics packaging continues to increase, it’s hugely important that all of us in the industry take a lead in addressing the environmental issues at stake,” he said. “RETAL fully supports the CPA as a great way to ensure that the sector becomes more responsible for plastics pollution as a whole. And, as a member of the value chain that leads to that pollution, we are committed to contributing our expertise in whatever way to mitigating the issue.”
RETAL is already active in many of the areas the CPA declaration focuses on. It promotes a design-to-recycle approach, supports and advocates for PET recycling across Europe, and conducts local clean-up operations to help raise awareness, reduce the environmental impact of plastic and increase understanding of the role of an efficient circular economy. All of this is achieved through RETAL’s membership of Recyclass, PETcore and Waste Free Oceans, groups dedicated to similar aims.
With more than 20 years’ experience in PET packaging production, as well as a commitment to the long-term sustainability of the plastics industry, RETAL has the know-how and capacity to make a substantial contribution to the CPA’s aims. “If we are to stop the environmental impact of plastic, we need to take it seriously as a valuable reusable resource, not treat it as disposable waste,” Khmara added. “It’s a challenge that everyone, from manufacturers to retailers to consumers, plays a part in solving, and in signing this declaration, RETAL is voicing its commitment to making plastic circular.”
By Emmanuel Duffaut, Sustainability Director, RETAL
The common thread running through all industries is sustainability. Th edesire and the demand to design, manufacture and supply products and services that are as responsible as they are reliable.
For the packaging industry, this mega trend has the particular sense of urgency. With the perfect strom of an increasing demand for convenience matched only by the increasing understanding of our environmental footprint, all stakeholders in the packaging value chain must do all they can to deliver sustainable solutions.
Global plastic packaging manufacturer RETAL develops and produces high quality packaging solutions, including PET (polyethilene terephtalate) preforms, HDPE (high-density polyethylene) closures, PET containers and films. Employing over 1500 people, operating 17 production sites in 10 countries and supplying customers in over 60 countroes worldwide, RETAL has gained its reputation for quality and flexibility thanks to continued strategic investment and an ability to deliver packaging solutions.