Fabricação Circular
Committed to a circular economy that diverts used packaging from landfills, preserves resources and reduces use of virgin materials.
Destaques
- We actively manage the life cycle of packaging through the manufacturing, reconditioning, reuse and recycling processes, as circular economy principles are an essential component of our Build to Last strategy.
- Greif’s Life Cycle Services network collects used and empty steel, plastic and Intermediate Bulk Container rigid packaging products and reconditions or recycles them, actively reducing the demand for raw materials and the number of containers sent to landfills.
- Our 2030 goals aim to make all Greif products recyclable, increase recycled raw materials across our products and recover a higher percentage of material from the market.
Por que a fabricação circular é importante
Upholding and advancing circular economy principles is an important component of Greif’s Build to Last Strategy and our customer partnerships. We actively manage the life cycle of packaging through the manufacturing, reconditioning, reuse and recycling processes. Creating products that embody circularity and build on environmental and social capital requires collaboration with our suppliers, customers and other value chain partners. Waste diversion and material recovery strengthen our Circular Economy management and allow us to build stronger relationships with our suppliers. Collaborating and building partnerships across our value chain help us develop sustainable and innovative solutions to advance our collective goals, reduce environmental impacts, provide a more sustainable end-of-life for products and advance our corporate and sustainability objectives.
Governança
Our circular economy strategy across our operations and value chain extends beyond using recycled products as we consider a cradle-to-cradle approach. As part of this strategy, we are working to drive circular economy principles in five key areas:
- Reducing raw material use
- Waste reduction and reducing natural resource use
- Innovation and increasing recyclability, and use of recycled materials, in our products
- Fiber-based alternatives to single-use plastics
- Life cycle services
We reduce virgin raw material use by increasing our use of recycled material and through the lightweighting and downgauging of our products. Lightweighting and downgauging products reduce reliance on raw materials and keep new raw materials from entering our value chain. For instance, Greif Latin America developed a large plastic drum with a facetted side-wall approach that removed up to 14 percent of the resin in the drum while maintaining performance. The faceted drum supports our circular economy and decarbonization strategies by reducing natural resource consumption and lowering fossil fuel-based raw material usage and CO2 emissions during transportation.
We continue to design and develop products that are recyclable and made from recycled materials as we work toward our goals to make 100 percent of Greif products recyclable1 and achieve an average of 60 percent recycled raw material content across our products2. By using recycled materials and manufacturing recyclable products, materials remain useful within our value chain. We work with our customers and suppliers to increase the availability and use of recycled and recyclable products. Our EcoBalance product line is made using up to 75 percent recycled high-density polyethylene obtained from post-consumer containers and our Paper Packaging & Services (PPS) products are 99 percent recyclable based on volume.
EcoBalance™ IBC Drives Down Carbon Emissions
Greif supported German paint producer Schulz in significantly reducing its carbon footprint through its sustainable GCUBE intermediate bulk container (IBC) with post-consumer resin (PCR) and closed-loop recycling service.
Greif’s GCUBE IBC with PCR consists of 60 percent virgin PE and 40 percent PCR. For product integrity, the inner layer of the IBC bottle remains 100 percent virgin high density, while the external layer is primarily made from PCR. Additionally, most external components, such as corner protectors, plastic feet and plastic pallets, are produced with recycled polyethylene. The PCR is generated from the collection of empty IBCs, which are then treated in Greif’s reconditioning and recycling facility in Mendig.
Schulz used standard IBCs for many years and was looking for new ways to reduce their environmental impact. “Switching to the GCUBE IBC with PCR has supported us in achieving our sustainability goals by decreasing raw material consumption and reducing CO2 emission into the atmosphere,” explained a spokesperson from Schulz.
The GCUBE IBC with PCR extends the EcoBalance™ product line, including drums and other shipping containers made using PCR. The EcoBalance™ product line helps support Greif’s customers with their sustainability goals, including reducing carbon emissions and energy consumption and diverting waste from landfills. The EcoBalance™ product line helps support Greif’s customers with their sustainability goals, including reducing carbon emissions, energy consumption and diverting waste from landfills.
Greif’s Life Cycle Services (LCS) network across North America and Europe collects used and empty steel, plastic and Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC) rigid packaging products and recovered fiber and reconditions or recycles them to be suitable for reuse and resale. This work actively reduces the demand for raw materials and decreases the number of containers sent to landfills. Across our Global Industrial Packaging (GIP) business, we reconditioned, remanufactured or recycled more than 2.7 million containers in 2022. Our PPS business managed over 3.3 million metric tons of recycled fiber in 2022. Please refer to the Inovação section of this report for more information.
We aim to assist our customers and their customers with safe, economical and environmentally supportive collections of eligible used packaging. As part of this network, customers can receive reports through the Greif Green Tool and Green Tool Lite, enabling them to quantify impact by tracking key indicators such as carbon footprint reduction, waste reduction and material savings. More information about our circular manufacturing efforts and their impacts on water, waste and emissions can be found in this report’s Inovação, Desperdício e Água seções.
Embalagens de papel e serviços
Greif operates 19 recycling facilities in our PPS business. Our facilities offer complete outsourcing solutions for plastics, pulp and paper fiber procurement, transportation and administration and provide complete paper fiber audit and management solutions. 99.2 percent of the products our recycling business handles, by volume, is paper fiber. Our paper fiber recycling operations collect wastepaper for use in our containerboard mills and for sale to other containerboard and recycled paper product manufacturers. Approximately 50 percent of the fiber we collect in our operations is used to manufacture paper products in consumer and industrial settings. We collect the remaining 50 percent of fiber for sale to external mills and other manufacturing operations to produce new paperboard, molded fiber packaging and other products. More than 78 percent of the fiber we use in our paper manufacturing is from recycled inputs. Due to our integrated capabilities, Greif operates as a net positive recycler, cementing us as a vital representative of the paper recycling industry.
Recovered fiber is an input to many essential goods. Before COVID-19, recovered fiber value was historically low, with a recovery cost higher than the fiber value for many recyclers. At the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, the supply of recovered fiber lagged behind the demand, resulting in a scarcity of fiber and continued high costs. However, at the end of 2022, the fiber market went through a shift that had not been experienced in decades, causing the price of recycled fiber to be often less than that of new fiber. As a result of this unprecedented shift, we are now focusing on re-educating customers on the advantages of recycled fiber. Our engagement efforts and industry group participation will help educate the market on changing industry dynamics, ensuring goods that depend on recovered fiber inputs remain viable businesses with a robust supply chain.
EasyPour Concrete Forming Tubes
Greif’s high-quality 100% recycled paperboard concrete forming tubes offer superior performance for demanding concrete projects, including columns, footings, piers and other structures. EasyPour tubes are one example of our efforts to commercialize new product lines that replace virgin-based products with recycled material products and remove plastic by incorporating our aqueous-based barrier coatings. EasyPour tubes also provide our customers with products that have improved end-of-life solutions, thereby advancing our circular economy strategy. EasyPour’s built- in weather shield technology provides moisture resistance and increased strength and durability. EasyPour tubes are LEED® qualified, made of 100% recycled paperboard produced by Greif mills and are fully recyclable and repulpable. In the past, we used Polyethylene liners in manufacturing our construction tubes.
In 2021 and 2022, we created a recyclable material alternative using paper. The development of this alternative is a significant step in reducing plastic waste.
Embalagem Industrial Global
Nosso negócio GIP busca oportunidades de reutilização e reciclagem sempre que possível. Em média, mais de 90% dos nossos produtos plásticos são recicláveis, e 100% do nosso plástico interno remoído, que representa aproximadamente 20% dos nossos tambores e IBCs em peso, é reincorporado em nossos produtos. Fabricamos nossos produtos de aço com aproximadamente 5 a 35% de aço reciclado, dependendo da região.
Please see our report’s Gestão da cadeia de abastecimento, Desperdício, e Inovação sections for more information about how our circular economy strategy spans our entire business.
Metas, Progresso e Desempenho
The broad quantity of steel, plastic and paper products covered by our LCS network is a tremendous asset for Greif. In 2022, a cross-functional team defined Greif’s global circularity goals and communicated them to the market. Greif is currently forming the teams necessary to achieve those goals in each business unit. In 2023, we plan to automate data collection for our 2030 targets, establish Circularity Teams to oversee our most important circularity workstreams and develop main action items and high-level roadmaps to help us achieve our 2030 goals.
Metas para 2030:
- Tornar 100% dos produtos Greif recicláveis1.
- Alcançar uma média de 60 por cento de conteúdo de matéria-prima reciclada em todos os produtos2.
- Recuperar em média 80 por cento do material do mercado que enviamos para o mercado3.
As metas de conteúdo reciclado para produtos Greif são médias mínimas comparadas em um portfólio de materiais e produtos por peso, consolidadas em nível de empresa.
[3] As metas de recuperação para os produtos Greif são médias mínimas comparadas em um portfólio de materiais e produtos por peso, consolidadas em nível de empresa.
Usando plástico reciclado na moldagem de IBC
A unidade Tri-Sure da Greif em Carol Stream colaborou com a compra da RIPS América do Norte, a RIPS Itália e quatro plantas da RIPS NA para obter 800.000 libras de resinas plásticas recicladas para uso na produção de pés traseiros/de canto e protetores de canto do IBC. Essa estratégia de fornecimento interno reduziu os custos em $100.000. A equipe também reutilizou caixas de papelão ondulado vazias para enviar os produtos reciclados que fabrica, reduzindo as compras de caixas de papelão ondulado em 84%. O projeto criou valor para a empresa e estabeleceu benefícios ambientais e financeiros, ao mesmo tempo em que fechou dois sistemas de loop interno e contribuiu para nossa economia circular desviando resíduos de aterros sanitários e encontrando um novo propósito para eles. Devido ao excelente impacto de sustentabilidade do projeto e sua capacidade de ser dimensionado para outras instalações de moldagem e moldagem por injeção, o projeto e a equipe Tri-Sure Carol Stream receberam o Prêmio de Sustentabilidade Michael J. Gasser de 2019.
Fiber Recycling for the Flooring Industry
In 2020, our Dalton, Georgia Recycling Facility worked with the floor covering manufacturers in the Dalton area to process recovered fiber and create a “closed loop” for paperboard cores. Each year, the Dalton Recycling team recovers tens of thousands of tons of core waste from these manufacturers and recovers this waste fiber. This same fiber is used by Greif’s paper mills to manufacture 100 percent recycled new paperboard, which is then converted into new tubes and cores in Greif’s Industrial Products Group (IPG). This initiative helps not only sustain the recycling programs in Dalton but also maintain our level of excellent customer service with IPG customers. Annually, this program helps recycle 25,000 tons of cores, 10,000 tons of cardboard, 5,000 tons of boxboard and 2,000 tons of plastic film from the flooring industry in north Georgia.
Recondicionamento de Tambores Cónicos em Portugal
Nos últimos 20 anos, a unidade RIPS da Greif na Península Ibérica, Portugal, tem fornecido aos clientes tambores cônicos recondicionados, tendo recondicionado mais de 10 milhões de tambores e economizado 50.000 toneladas de aço, 197.600 toneladas de emissões de CO2, 2.600.000 gigajoules de energia e 343.200 metros cúbicos de água no processo. O projeto foi iniciado inicialmente como uma forma de ajudar a atender ao desejo dos nossos clientes de reduzir o desperdício e diminuir sua pegada de carbono e melhorar a satisfação geral do cliente. A equipe colaborou com os clientes para entender suas necessidades, incluindo volume, requisitos de especificação e segurança, desenvolveu um processo de recondicionamento e, finalmente, instalou uma linha de recondicionamento para começar a atender aos clientes. Hoje, a unidade atende a uma infinidade de clientes, recondicionando 500.000 tambores cônicos e economizando 5.200 toneladas de aço a cada ano.
Expandindo os serviços Cradle to Cradle com investimentos e joint ventures
Em 2020, a Greif fez investimentos e estabeleceu várias joint ventures para expandir a escala e as capacidades dos serviços de reutilização, reciclagem e recondicionamento que fornecemos. Em abril, a Greif adquiriu uma participação minoritária na Centurion Container LLC, expandindo nossa rede de recondicionamento de contêineres intermediários a granel (IBC) na América do Norte. Em agosto, a Greif estabeleceu uma joint venture com a Delta Plastics, a principal fornecedora independente de IBCs recondicionados no Reino Unido. Finalmente, em dezembro, a Greif adquiriu uma participação minoritária na LAF srl, expandindo os serviços de recondicionamento de IBC para nossos clientes na Itália. Estamos ansiosos para trabalhar com nossos parceiros para continuar a reduzir nosso impacto ambiental por meio de soluções do berço ao berço.
Serviços de recondicionamento de última geração em Lille
A unidade LCS da Greif em Lille, França, tomou medidas significativas para inovar a logística associada à oferta de serviços de recondicionamento para nossos clientes. Tradicionalmente, os IBCs vazios eram coletados e entregues em um único local para um único cliente. A LCS Lille começou a coletar em locais ao longo da cadeia de suprimentos de nossos clientes e, em seguida, entregar os IBCs recondicionados de volta aos nossos clientes, simplificando a logística para nossos clientes. Lille também implementou o Datamatrix, um sistema de rastreabilidade que nos permite registrar todas as etapas da produção, do recebimento à entrega, ter visibilidade das origens de um IBC e fornecer uma visão em tempo real do nosso inventário em suporte ao serviço geral aprimorado ao cliente. O Datamatrix também oferece suporte a um melhor gerenciamento de resíduos nos IBCs que eles coletam. Cada IBC que entra na unidade é pesado automaticamente para determinar quanto resíduo está no contêiner e informar como ele é tratado. Com o Datamatrix, essas informações podem ser enviadas diretamente de volta aos clientes para melhorar a forma como eles gerenciam os IBCs que estão prontos para coleta. Lille usa um sistema de circuito fechado para a água usada na limpeza de IBCs, reciclando 100% da água usada, e coleta, trata e tritura o plástico usado na fabricação de novos IBCs e tambores de plástico.
Fornecendo aos nossos clientes uma solução circular
A linha de produtos CorrChoice GreenGuard® fornece aos nossos clientes uma alternativa reciclável e repolpável segura para alimentos a materiais suplementares, como revestimentos plásticos. Nossa linha GreenGuard® de revestimentos de papel é segura para contato direto com a maioria dos tipos de alimentos e apresenta resistência a óleo, graxa, água, umidade e abrasão, bem como uma tecnologia inovadora de substituição de cera. Ao aplicar o revestimento em recipientes de papelão ondulado, eliminamos a necessidade de materiais suplementares usados em muitas aplicações alimentícias. Trabalhamos com nossos clientes para garantir que nossos produtos atendam às suas necessidades de manuseio seguro e protegido de alimentos, ao mesmo tempo em que fornecemos produtos de embalagem que são 100% recicláveis e repolpáveis, avançando nossa estratégia de economia circular e permitindo que nossos clientes atendam aos seus objetivos de sustentabilidade.
