 |
|
|
|
|
|
Select a country, year, category or all three from the menu below to filter the case studies.
|
|
Worldwide - 2005
Sustainable Commitment to Packaging
|
|
|
As part of its long-term strategy to eliminate waste and also meet growing customer demand for environmentally friendly packaging, Alcoa is developing, manufacturing, using, and recycling sustainable packaging products throughout the world.
For decades, Alcoa has been producing aluminum sheet for use in the manufacture of beverage and food cans-one of the world's most recyclable packaging products. Alcoa is also one of the leading suppliers of PET sheet and containers with recycled/post-consumer PET to the packaging and agricultural markets. The company also manufactures trash bags that contain recycled content.
For the past five years, Alcoa's Reynolds Food Packaging (RFP) has been commercially producing polylactic acid (PLA) packaging in Europe. Produced from corn, the packaging is an alternative to traditional oil-derived plastics. RFP is currently developing PLA packaging for production in North America and is partnering with key customers to evaluate potential PLA applications for its thermoformed containers.
Several technologies have emerged in recent years that allow the breakdown of plastics into chemically inert materials in various environments, and Alcoa is working to evaluate and implement these technologies.
Alcoa Consumer Products currently produces a line of degradable polyethylene trash bags and is investigating potential applications for pallet wrap. RFP has been evaluating biodegradable technology for its sheet products and is hopeful these efforts will yield commercial success. In addition, Alcoa Packaging is investigating potential applications in industrial shrink film, while Alcoa Closure Systems International (CSI) is undertaking the same for closures.
To help manage packaging waste in a more sustainable manner, Alcoa works to ensure that post-consumer materials are used in the corrugated shipping containers and paperboard cartons that contain the company's products. The company has also designed finished goods packaging with reuse in mind.
Working with customers, Alcoa CSI in Europe has developed a returnable packaging system (RPS) that is free of wood and cardboard, is 100% recyclable, and eliminates the need for pallets. With a projected shelf life of five years, each RPS can be used up to 60 times. Reynolds Food Packaging in Sedgefield, United Kingdom, uses rip and take packaging (RTP) that is made of low-density polyethylene resin (LDPE) and eliminates the need for an inner liner.
Alcoa is also committed to recycling used packaging. In Tennessee, the company operates one of the world's largest used beverage can recycling facilities. Alcoa also operates similar but smaller facilities in Australia and other countries.
In Brazil, Alcoa is a partner in a technologically advanced recycling plant that separates and recovers the paper, plastic, and aluminum from post-consumer aseptic packaging. Alcoa has committed to purchasing 100% of the recycled, high-quality aluminum for reuse in customer Tetra Pak's foil packaging.
|
|
|
|
|
|
