European Steel for Packaging Industry Promotes Sustainability

The European Steel for packaging industry launched its sustainability positioning in Brussels, showcasing its unique position as an enabler for a sustainable 21st century.

During EU Green Week, which takes the sustainable use of natural resources as its theme, focusing on waste management, sustainable consumption and production, steel for packaging will be outlining its natural credentials in each of the three pillars of sustainability:

• Caring for the Environment – Thanks to its natural properties, steel - infinitely recyclable - is the world’s most recycled material, contributing to the lowering of CO₂ emissions.
• Protecting products – Steel is robust and offers 100 % protection against light, water and air. It therefore preserves naturally and offers the highest packaging integrity.
• Delivering for Business – Steel is the most reliable and eco-efficient packaging solution offering a trusted experience for business operators.

“Steel’s natural properties, being magnetic, infinitely recyclable and 100% protective, mean that it is uniquely placed to meet the sustainability challenge,” explained Philippe Wolper, managing director of APEAL, the Association of European Producers of Steel for Packaging.

The steel for packaging initiative is timely in the context of the Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Action Plan due to be released by the European Commission shortly, and addresses some of the key issues likely to be contained within it including the optimal use of natural resources, the role of recycling and the lowering of CO₂ emissions.
Philippe Wolper: “The launch of the ‘Steel for packaging … Naturally’ positioning in the presence of some of our most important stakeholders shows the growing confidence and industry cooperation in communicating the role our material can play in a sustainable future for our society. In the forthcoming weeks we will further reach out to all the actors of the packaging market”

During the panel discussion that accompanied the launch, Julian Carroll of Europen, the European Organisation for Packaging and the Environment, urged the Commission to include the whole supply chain in its strategy. “In order to move towards more sustainability, everybody should be on board, from raw materials producers through end users. Shared responsibility, supply chain cooperation, legal transparency and uniformity are indispensable factors to achieve a high level of sustainable consumption. ” he declared”.

Martin Reynolds, Vice President Crown Europe, announced the joint industry initiative to develop a carbon number for metal packaging that meets ISO standards for lifecycle analysis. “The model will be launched in October and will allow canmakers to input data on their packaging into a database and achieve a carbon number.”

In addition to steel’s sustainability performance already achieved naturally, APEAL’s Managing Director Philippe Wolper announced the European steel industry ambitious investment in long term R&D to come up with breakthrough technologies to decrease CO₂ emissions in steelmaking even more drastically than the 50 % reduction in emissions already achieved over the last 40 years.