Fortunately, due to the infinitely recyclable nature of the materials we use to make our products (steel, glass, aluminium), our track record in dealing with waste is something we’re proud of.
The most important waste stream in our steel and can-making plants is scrap metal, indeed both aluminium and steel alone are responsible for about 80% of the waste we produce. The good news is that all that waste is sent to recycling, in most cases to our suppliers’ facilities, which ensures the circularity of all the materials we use in our production processes. Taking into account waste generated from packaging, sludge and waste from staff bins (which as you’d expected are separated by material type) the amount of waste we recycle is about 95%.
Importantly, we also go beyond our direct production processes and think about our products in the context of their entire life cycle. We run dedicated companies in Poland and Romania to collect used beverage cans from the market and prepare them for efficient recycling. We work with regulators, local governments, and waste management companies to raise awareness among local communities and provide favourable conditions for recycling. Our plant in Vyshgorod, Ukraine, works with other packaging producers and customers to implement universal, selective waste collection and in Stříbro, Czechia, we are supporting the development of a local recycling system by delivering appropriate infrastructure.
Although our aspiration is to be a company that fully supports a circular economy, for the time being we are pleased with the progress we are making… but that isn’t to say we don’t know that we still have much more to do.