Sustainable packaging: Eastman Launches First Sustainability Review

-- Packaging Digest, 6/17/2010 12:11:18 PM

Eastman Chemical Company has released a new comprehensive review outlining its strategy to leverage the company's expanding portfolio of sustainable practices and products as a primary driver of growth and innovation.

The review, "Our Sustainability Journey," highlights recent accomplishments and establishes clear short- and mid-term goals to help the company evaluate its success across all dimensions of its sustainability program -- economic growth, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility.

"At Eastman, our goal is to consistently demonstrate we are an outperforming chemical company by delivering value-creating growth," says Jim Rogers, Eastman president and CEO. "We believe that sustainability in particular provides a tailwind for us in achieving this growth."

Eastman expects to achieve value-creating growth through strong financial performance and that two-thirds of the revenues from new product launches will offer sustainability benefits compared with the prevailing alternatives in the market.

Environmental goals
Annual 2.5 percent energy-efficiency improvements, and a 25 percent reduction in energy intensity and 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity over the next 10 years are among the targets included in the report.

Social goals
Within this broad category, the report outlines ongoing objectives and efforts aimed at maintaining Eastman's strong commitment to health, safety, employee well-being and employee training, and expanding the company's strategic sustainability work with academia and key value chain influencers like industrial designers, global trade associations, government and non-government organizations.

In addition, the report details Eastman's recent strides in GHG, VOC, and energy intensity reductions, global community outreach programs, and a host of product and technology innovations -- ranging from BPA-free plastics and phthalate-free plasticizers to bio-based, renewable performance additives.

"We believe sustainability is foundational to Eastman's continued successful innovation efforts and is, in fact, the key to solving future problems for our customers and our world," says Mark Costa, executive vice president with responsibility for the company's sustainability initiatives. "We're excited to launch our first sustainability review which captures the progress we've made on our journey so far."

In 2009, Eastman received the EPA's Presidential Green Challenge Award for its green biocatalytic process and was ranked by Newsweek magazine as one of the "Top 100 Greenest Companies in America."

The full "Our Sustainability Journey" review is available at www.eastman.com/sustainability .

SOURCE: Eastman Chemical Company

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