Sidel joins New Plastics Economy Global Commitment

Sidel, Parma, Italy, has announced it is a new signatory of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. This worldwide initiative created by the Cowes, United Kingdom-based Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the Nairobi, Kenya-based United Nations Environment Programme launched in 2018 with the goal of addressing the plastic scrap and pollution crisis at its source and keeping plastics within the economy. Currently, it unites more than 400 organizations with a common vision of a circular economy for plastics. 

Sidel says it has based its sustainability efforts on eight pillars, including product focused aspects, such as food safety, sustainable packaging and equipment, avoiding all waste, minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing water and energy consumption.

“By signing the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Global Commitment, we have undertaken another important step towards a more sustainable future,” says Luc Desoutter, sustainability officer at Sidel. “Together with our clients and business partners, we want to continue playing a key role when it comes to addressing the increasing challenges of packaging, food safety and environmental impacts.”

The focus on recycling collection

The company says consumption of packaged beverages alone shows a continuous growth trend at 2.5 percent annually worldwide and 1.3 percent annually in Europe. To a large degree, Sidel says, this green trajectory is supported by the usage of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as primary packaging. Because of its unique properties in terms of food safety, convenience, design flexibility, transparency, cost and closed loop recyclability, approximately 37 percent of all beverage volume is packaged in PET.

The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment includes goals, such as taking action to eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging through redesign, innovation and new delivery models as well as embracing reuse models with the aim of 100 percent of all plastic packaging becoming reusable, recyclable or compostable. 

“Technologically and industrially, PET, cans and glass can all be recycled. There is also an economical value in doing so,” Desoutter says. “The value of a bale of PET bottles can range between 300 and 600 euros per [metric ton], depending on its quality.

“PET can be brought back into the value chain; it shouldn’t be considered part of the problem. We are witnessing a significant shift in attitudes towards how PET is recycled, and we want to use our engagement as part of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment to support and promote this development towards maximum collection and recycling rates,” Desoutter continues.

Sidel's approach

Sidel says it has been collaborating with different industry associations to promote the unique properties of PET packaging and to develop its recycling standards. In addition to becoming a signatory, Sidel has also formulated a set of its own sustainability targets. 

These targets are centered on the company’s End-to-End approach, which considers packaging and equipment from a 360-degree perspective and examines the impacts created upstream and downstream in the value chain, Sidel says.

Desoutter says, “When looking at packaging, not only do we need to take into account primary, secondary and tertiary packaging but also their interaction with the equipment in the factory. We do that by always bearing in mind interests and expectations carried by the industry players, the consumers and the civil society.”