At LINPAC we recognise our responsibility to give something back to the communities in which we operate and to act in a safe and environmentally aware manner. As a global manufacturing and services business, we know that it is only by looking beyond simple economic success that we can sustain long-term competitive advantage for ourselves and our customers.
Charitable support
The Group actively supports many charitable activities. We believe we can make the most difference when we partner with local charities and initiatives, and involve our people. We encourage our divisions globally to support charities that really mean something to them and upon which their involvement can make a significant positive impact.
In recent years, donations have been made around the world to educational facilities, children's homes and medical research, as well as to provide care and equipment for children with genetic disorders. We also host visits to our manufacturing sites for schools and community groups in many countries, to help create awareness and understanding of the packaging industry.
Health and safety
We believe that safety is not something that can be project-managed or considered in isolation. The protection of our people, our customers, our suppliers and the general public is of paramount importance at LINPAC, and requires the dedication and commitment of all our employees – wherever they are based.
Our safety culture is founded on the following principles:
- Accidents and injuries at work are preventable
- Everyone has a personal responsibility to ensure his or her safety and the safety of others – both on and off the job
- No business objective is so important that it may be pursued at the expense of safety
- Safe conduct of operations is a condition of employment at LINPAC
- A job is done well only if it is done safely.
Every manufacturing site is required to conduct a Health, Safety, Hygiene and Environment (HSHE) audit on an annual basis. Any location achieving less than an agreed minimum score or 5% less than the previous year is provided with additional HSHE support and re-audited within six months.
Our people
As an international company with over 8,000 employees, we aim to attract, recruit, nurture and reward the very best people, while conducting business with honesty and integrity. Our Code of Conduct is led and supported by the Group Board and management team.
The Code is a global set of standards that defines what is expected of our businesses and our people – regardless of geography or cultural background – and all LINPAC employees are required to comply with its key values:
- Honesty and integrity in the way we conduct business
- Respect for the individual and cultural diversity
- Open and supportive relationships with all key stakeholders
- A common responsibility at all levels to adhere to the Code.
We encourage our people to question conventional wisdom and to challenge the status quo, so that ultimately they may add value to customers’ operations and increase their competitive advantage. Our people take pride in designing, manufacturing and delivering the world’s best and most innovative plastic packaging and other products – many of which have established industry benchmarks.
The Environment
“The weight of one of our food service containers is now less than a single sheet of office paper. Cutting weight – without compromising performance or quality – means we use less material in manufacture, reducing carbon miles and creating less waste.”
Adam Barnett, Vice President of Marketing and Innovation, LINPAC Packaging
How can an environmentally aware company seriously recommend the use of more plastic?
It’s all too easy to dismiss plastic as an environmental villain. At LINPAC we believe plastic packaging is the most sustainable way to preserve and protect most goods. Societies without sophisticated packaging typically lose half their food, for example, before it reaches consumers. All our plastic products can be recycled, and many are designed to be reused.
There is no other packaging material that performs quite like plastic – nothing so versatile, lightweight and cost-effective. Metal takes large amounts of energy to create and recycle, while wood and cardboard need to be replaced more frequently. Plastic is recyclable, lasts longer, is lighter and is more hygienic.
Through technological advances and clever design, the average weight of plastic packaging has reduced by more than a quarter over the past decade. Our challenge as a packaging producer is to continue to create innovative and effective products for customers by using fewer raw materials and less energy. By providing efficient services, manufacturing reusable products and offering recycling facilities, we are helping others to reduce the amount of waste in their own supply chains and to close their recycling loops.
For nearly two decades LINPAC has been setting the environmental agenda for the packaging sector. We have adhered to a formal environmental policy since the 1980s and all our facilities are committed to conserving resources, reducing energy consumption, minimising emissions to air, water and soil – while complying with all relevant environmental legislation – exceeding standards wherever possible. Our plastics recycling plants are among the most efficient in Europe and the Americas.
We use less:
- We aim to reduce the average weight of our packaging by around 5% each year
- We reduce our energy consumption by around 10% each year
We recycle:
- We are the only thermoformer in Europe with a recycling division, offering customers end-of-life plastics recycling as a commercially viable alternative to disposal
- We manufacture a range of trays and punnets using recycled PET
- Our European recycling plant processes 34,000 tonnes of used plastic each year
- Our Nova Scotia facility is a substantial re-processor of plastic waste, and is one of the few businesses in Canada to use geo-thermal energy for hot water
- Our waste management services cover the baling and recycling of cardboard and plastic – reducing the amount of our customers’ waste going to landfill
- Nearly all our products – from food packaging to litter bins – are recyclable.
We reuse:
- We supply shelf-ready packaging that can be collected ‘back-of-store’ and reused
- We manufacture, supply and manage returnable transit packaging (RTP) solutions, and provide maintenance and repair services to prolong their life
- Some products incorporate recycled material – including food-grade post-consumer waste
- Our stand-alone shipping containers do not need supplementary packaging (reducing packaging waste) and many have secondary uses as storage containers, buckets, etc.
We have biodegradable:
- We offer a range of packaging products made from polylactic acid (PLA) – a renewable and 100% compostable plastic material derived from farm crops.
In May 2007 LINPAC Packaging established an internal environment group to research and provide solutions to the environmental issues facing the plastic packaging industry and its customers. The company is now a leading innovator in lightweighting (i.e. using less raw material per packaging unit) and the use of recycled and biodegradeable plastic materials – even for food-grade packaging products.
Another principal division, LINPAC Allibert, manufactures returnable transit packaging (RTP) products that improve the use of space in the retail store and in vehicles through their nesting, stacking and folding features – thereby reducing carbon miles. The same division also offers tray washing and repair services that can extend the life of RTP crates to 25 years.
LINPAC runs a Group-wide energy reduction programme to improve energy efficiency. Targets are set for each company location at the beginning of the year, and over 200 individual energy saving projects were initiated in 2008.
In recognition of its environmental achievements, LINPAC was named Environmental Company of the Year in the prestigious UK Packaging Awards 2008. The award recognises the company in the packaging sector that has done most to minimise its environmental impact over the year while demonstrating total commitment to environmental improvement.
The awards organiser commented: “LINPAC was a finalist in this category last year but has stepped up to be a deserving winner in 2008. It took its environmental message public when it partnered with the BBC’s Inside Out programme in July to highlight the challenges in recycling plastics and the current collection schemes offered by local authorities.”
“Plastic packaging can be a marvellous thing… a forgotten infrastructure that allows modern urban life to exist…”
FT Magazine, 26 April 2008