One of the most important considerations in choosing packaging is sustainability, with an emphasis on the triple bottom line (financial, social and environmental) and each stage of a package’s life cycle. In today’s world, flexible packaging is at the forefront of important tends in product protection, package design and minimization, convenience, waste reduction and resource conservation. Another important consideration, however, is choosing a packaging manufacturer whose sustainable practices influence the overall global footprint made by the products they produce.
There are a number of practices that packaging manufacturers, and flexible packaging manufacturers in particular, can implement to be a more responsible corporate citizen and specifically, to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions.
These include:
Use of renewable energy, such as solar or wind generation
Use of solventless lamination, eliminating VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) creation .
Finding creative solutions to reduce the environmental footprint created by fulfillment
Changes to the physical structure of the production facilities
Institution of aggressive waste management programs
LPS Industries has demonstrated its concern for the environment by adopting not only all of these practices but also several others as well. For example, the company installed a rooftop solar panel system that produces 825,000 kWh (kilowatt hours) of electricity while eliminating over 1,100,000 pounds of CO2 emissions annually. According to the Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator provided by the US Department of Environmental Protection, this is enough electricity to provide power to almost 70 average homes for one year, and the equivalent of taking 105 cars off the highways.
By converting to solventless lamination, the company not only reduced its greenhouse gas emissions but also eliminated the need for disposal of dangerous solvents. Conversion also eliminated the need for a temperature controlled curing room, reducing overall power consumption.
To better manage the resources consumed by fulfillment, LPS established a national network of warehouses. This also has the benefit of being able to deliver orders faster no matter where in the country a customer is located.
By continuing to offer flexible packaging and packaging and shipping products that are produced in an environmentally-friendly facility and by working with customers to redesign packaging by using new films or fewer layers, LPS is helping to reduce the weight of contents in our shopping bags as well as the amount of household packaging waste. Additionally, flexible packaging offers very high BTU fuel content for communities where waste-to-energy programs are available.
Visit LPS Sustainability for more information about how LPS Industries is bringing environmentally-friendly practices, procedures and facility improvements to its overall operation.
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