Sustaining Sustainability —Polischuk
What a difference a year makes. About this time last year, oil prices were peaking around $150/barrel, and energy and materials pricing, in general, were following suit. Along with this, sustainability was right at the top of the list of global concerns.
Things changed fairly drastically with the onset of what I have seen termed, "The Great Recession." With worldwide output dropping significantly, the depth of the recession and the precipitous state of worldwide financial communities changed priorities for governments and businesses alike. For the most part, simple survival has become the order of the day and will remain this way for some time to come.
Sustainability issues, however, will continue to play a major role in packaging for the foreseeable future. Radius Solutions, a provider of ERP solutions, used sustainability as the theme for its recent users group meeting. The meeting revolved around the three Rs of waste management—reduce, reuse, recycle—with a focus on reducing inefficiencies, reusing knowledge, and recycling resources.
Calvin Frost, CEO of Channeled Resources Group (CRG), a converting company that supplies coated, treated, and laminated papers and films, delivered the keynote presentation for the 3-day meeting. A key focus of his company is to develop cost-effective and environmentally responsible outlets for many of the by-products resulting from using paper and film substrates.
During his presentation, Frost emphasized the environmental challenge faced by the pressure-sensitive (p-s) industry. Because of the release liner and diecut matrix associated with these labels, about 55 percent of the material ends up in the waste stream. Although all of this material is recyclable, Frost cited statistics that revealed only about 2.5 percent (50,000 tonnes) of the p-s waste generated in North America and Europe each year is being recycled. With major consumer products companies working hard to improve their sustainability footprints, this is clearly an area that needs to be addressed.
Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute (TLMI) has taken the initiative to help its members address these issues by introducing Project L.I.F.E. (Label Initiative for the Environment). This program helps TLMI members develop a sustainability roadmap, and Frost believes it can also be used as a foundation to help develop solutions for the p-s waste stream. CRG has taken a lead in this endeavor, becoming one of the first three companies to achieve L.I.F.E. certification.
Like CRG, companies that manage to move forward on the sustainability front during these difficult times will be rewarded when the business cycle improves.
Tom Polischuk, Editor-in-Chief
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