John Kalkowski -- Packaging Digest, 7/1/2010 4:24:00 PM
A number of U.S. companies have begun issuing annual corporate sustainability reports detailing their goals for social responsibility, reporting their environmental metrics and educating investors about the increasingly important role that sustainability plays in their business operations. These reports run the gamut, from financial companies to consumer packaged goods companies.
One major packaging company, Ball Corp., released their second sustainability report in late June. Ball, with reported 2009 sales of more than $7.3 billion, is a supplier of packaging for beverage, food and household products, as well as aerospace products and other services.
Among highlights of the report, Ball reports that the company:
Implemented Supplier Guiding Principles in its requests for proposals. These outline minimum sustainability guidelines for Ball's suppliers and contractors.
Invested more than $36 million in energy savings projects since 2007.
Reduced total energy use by 11 percent and improved energy efficiency per 1000 units produced by 9 percent since 2007.
Has cut normalized greenhouse gas emissions by 13 percent since 2005.
Reduced absolute water usage by 8.6 percent and improved water efficiency by 5.5 percent since 2007.
"Sustainability is connected directly to creating value for our stakeholders and for Ball," said R. David Hoover, Ball's chairman and chief executive officer. "Our second sustainability report and expanded online sustainability reporting provide details on the progress we have made over the past two years."
Ball initiated a sustainability analysis with key stakeholders in 2009 to help determine the company's sustainability priorities.
In the report, Ball also admits sustainability challenges the company faced in 2009. These included plant closures to align supply and demand, controversy over the use of Bisphenol-A in can coatings, and a delay in the full conversion to using a can end (CDL) that uses less aluminum. Ball expects to complete the CDL project in 2011. The report also is sprinkled with a number of recent sustainability project case studies undertaken by the company. Ball's comprehensive 2010 sustainability reporting and the company's responses to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reporting framework are available online at www.ball.com/sustainability
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