There is growing concern by society and government about the need to conserve resources and lower the amount of waste being disposed of in landfill through a reduction in the amount of waste being created and an increase in the amount of materials being recycled. This is resulting in increased attention being paid to reducing the overall quantity of packaging in use and increasing the proportion of packaging that is recycled. The Group recognises its responsibility to contribute to the conservation of resources and is fulfilling this responsibility in a number of ways. Most packaging performs the valuable functions of protecting products, reducing product wastage, enabling more efficient and lower-cost handling and transportation and, in many cases, contributes to lowering the environmental impact of the supply of goods. The choice of the most appropriate packaging material and pack design for a particular product depends upon a wide range of factors including the nature of the product itself, how the total supply chain for the product operates and the requirements of retailers and consumers. It is increasingly being recognised that packaging is just one, often relatively minor, aspect of the total environmental impact of a product and it should be considered in that context. Our packaging businesses work with their customers to develop packaging of the optimum specification for the required end-use. DS Smith Packaging's Pack Right system enables all the factors relating to a particular pack to be analysed and in many instances our design and technical expertise enables the customer to reduce the weight of raw materials used in a pack as well as to pack the goods more efficiently; this reduces transport costs and thereby the carbon emissions per unit. Recent collaboration by DS Smith Kaysersberg over a particular item of packaging for a major international beverage company, for example, resulted in our recyclable corrugated packaging replacing the previously used material which was difficult to recycle, and in the process the weight of the packaging was reduced by 20%. In some circumstances, packaging which is designed to be re-used many times, such as the Group's plastic returnable transit packaging, may be required by customers if the packaging can be readily recovered, transported and cleaned for re-use. Plastic bag-in-box packaging is increasingly being used to contain liquids in bulk as well as for consumer use. It has significant benefits for storing and transporting beverages and other liquids hygienically and securely, and can substantially extend the storage life of products, thus reducing product wastage. Bag-in-box packs use space efficiently and are relatively light-weight compared with bottles or drums so they may reduce the overall energy usage in the supply chain because they can be transported and stored more efficiently. Plastic materials may be more difficult to recycle than some other materials, due to the large variety of polymers in use, the practicalities of separate collection and processing, contamination from contact with food and other technical considerations. Wherever it is appropriate, our Plastic Packaging businesses use recycled materials and they increased the recycled proportion of their polymer and film raw material requirements from 18% in 2005/06 to 21% in 2006/07. Although corrugated packaging is not generally re-used, it is a fully recyclable packaging material that is produced predominantly from recycled paper in what is essentially a loop system. Used corrugated boxes are recycled into paper; this paper is converted into boxes which are packed with goods; retailers or consumers discard the used boxes which are then collected for recycling and delivered to the paper mill to be turned into paper once again. Corrugated products are playing an increasingly important role in the pursuit of sustainable, environmentally-friendly packaging. |
