Focus on recycling: ALPLA sustainability report 2021-2022

2023-12-15 2:70 min Sustainability & Circular Economy

ALPLA Hard, Austria

The international ALPLA Group is presenting its fifth sustainability report under the motto ‘What we do matters’. In it, the packaging and recycling specialist analyses the financial years 2021 and 2022 and focuses on the three pillars of ‘People’, ‘Planet’ and ‘Profitability’. ALPLA is on track in spite of growth and global expansion thanks to energy efficiency measures and investments in the circular economy. The proportion of recycled material was increased from 16 per cent to 18 per cent between 2021 and 2022 and is expected to reach at least 25 per cent by 2025.

With its fifth sustainability report, the ALPLA Group offers insights into the environmental, social and economic developments of the financial years 2021 and 2022. The report focuses on business-relevant issues such as climate protection, resource efficiency, equal opportunity, and legal and regulatory changes. Data, charts and examples document the progress made and show where there is potential. ‘Every day, we champion solutions that promote safe, affordable and sustainable life around the world. With more than three billion people coming into contact with our products every day, we are assuming the great responsibility that comes with our mission,’ emphasises ALPLA CEO Philipp Lehner.

Constant energy consumption despite growth

High-quality data forms the basis for targeted climate protection measures. ALPLA has developed a detailed calculation of the carbon footprint for all the regions, plants and divisions. The carbon footprint¹ is to be further reduced by making increased use of renewable energy and with initiatives to promote the circular economy. These include lightweight packaging, in-house production directly at the customer’s premises, investments in state-of-the-art recycling plants and innovative projects with plastic alternatives.

Energy consumption remained constant in 2021 and 2022 despite the growing material needs. The share of renewable energy was increased by one percentage point from 2021 to 2022 to the current level of 22 per cent. Numerous plants in Austria, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama are already run entirely on renewable energy and more sites are scheduled to follow in the coming years.

Growing proportion of recycled materials

In line with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, ALPLA intends to be using at least 25 per cent recycled materials in its packaging by 2025. In 2021, 282,050 tonnes of recycled material were used, equating to around 16 per cent of the material needs. By 2022, this had already gone up to 327,520 tonnes or approx. 18 per cent of the total needs. Increasingly recycling used plastics is an important lever for reducing greenhouse gases and will be further promoted through investments in recycling.

(Photo credit: ALPLA)

People and values

ALPLA employs around 23,300 people worldwide. The family business operates its own childcare facilities, trains skilled workers itself at Future Corners around the world and offers numerous in-house training opportunities and e-learning courses. Since 2020, two additional childcare facilities have been added in India, as have dual training programmes in India, Poland and South Africa.

Regional focus: Mexico, Central America and The Caribbean

As in previous sustainability reports, an ALPLA region is again be presented in detail in this reporting period. This time it is Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (MXCA-CARI), which employs over 3,000 people at 36 sites. Sustainability initiatives in the region include the start of construction of the state-of-the-art PLANETA recycling plant, a joint venture between ALPLA and Coca-Cola FEMSA in 2022. In addition, a regional carbon footprint has been developed, local green spaces have been reforested and initiatives for the collection of used plastics have been established.

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¹ 2022: Gross GHG emissions (tCO₂e): Scope 1: 27,485; Scope 2, market-based: 673,412; Scope 3: 4,578,455

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