Sonoco, headquartered in Hartsville, SC and one of the largest global diversified packaging companies, has recently said it is voluntarily targeting a 15 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from its more than 300 global manufacturing plants by 2014.
Harris E. DeLoach, Jr., chairman, president and chief executive officer, announced the new voluntary emission reduction goal in a letter to stakeholders from the company’s 2009-2010 Sustainability Report that was issued on July 26, 2010. The report is available on the company’s Web-site at www.sonoco.com.
"Last year, we committed to reducing GHG emissions from our uncoated recycled paper mills in the United States and Canada by approximately 15 per cent by 2013. I am pleased to report that our efforts in 2009 led to an approximate 13 per cent reduction," DeLoach explains. "We have put in place a global Web-based environmental management system which collects GHG emissions from all of our international manufacturing facilities. We have taken this data, established 2008 as our baseline year, and set a goal of reducing GHG emission from our more than 300 manufacturing facilities by 15 per cent by 2014."
DeLoach says the significant progress Sonoco made in 2009 toward reducing GHG emission came from decreasing energy consumption and by converting steam boilers at some of the company’s paperboard mills to less carbon-intensive fuels. As an example, overall energy consumption at Sonoco’s North American paperboard mills was reduced by 3.3 per cent in 2009, which saved the company approximately US$2.2 million and reduced GHG and other emissions. Further projects are underway at company mills in N.A., Italy and Greece.
Sonoco’s Sustainability Report reviews actions the company is taking in the areas of environmental stewardship, community service and economic performance. The report provides a scorecard of initiatives, including efforts to provide more sustainable packaging products and recycling services offered by Sonoco to its consumer and industrial packaging businesses.
For more information, visit www.sonoco.com.
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