EnviroSense® Sustainable Packaging

We make products like PET rigid plastic containers that use a minimum 50% recycled content. We are committed to increasing the use of post-consumer recycled resins in our plastic packaging from 19% to 25% by 2025.

*Made with a percentage of post- or pre-consumer recycled material. Post-consumer material has completed its intended purpose and recycled into a useful raw material. Pre-consumer materials are un-sold products or material created during the process of manufacturing; examples include damaged or aged inventory, clippings or trimmings that cannot be used back in the original manufacturing process.

Sonoco is committed to helping customer and Sonoco-owned facilities achieve significant milestones in landfill diversion. Compostable packaging helps us achieve these goals by keeping waste out of landfills and helping to return nutrients to the soil. 

*Packaging that biodegrades under a controlled process in a managed composting system. Claims of compostability should be accompanied by recognized testing and certification; they should identify industrial or home compostability.

The creation of more easily recyclable consumer packaging is a goal we are working toward at Sonoco. For example, EnviroFlex PE™, part of our EnviroSense® portfolio, is eligible for the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) How2Recycle label. It can be dropped off at grocery stores for recycling (if clean and dry) with grocery bags. As a company our recycling related goals include ensuring that approximately 75% of its global rigid plastic packaging is capable of making the relevant on-package recyclable claim by 2025. We are also committed to by 2025 increasing, by weight, the amount we recycle, or cause to be recycled, from 65% to 85%, relative to the volume of product we put into the global marketplace.

*Packaging that meets the requirements for carrying a recyclable label in accordance with ISO 14021 or the FTC’s Guidance on Environmental Marketing Claims. This includes the ability to be collected from consumers, sorted, and processed into a marketing recycled material.

At Sonoco, we focus on quality solutions that keep the customer at the forefront of the solution. This mindset allows us to create reusable packaging for everything from temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals to pre-made snack pouches and bags. 

*Packaging that is returned a specified number of times to be refilled/reused for its original purpose.

It's not enough to recycle and use sustainable products. We're also committed to reducing our overall environmental impact.

Sonoco will not utilize resin additives that purport to degrade in landfills or waterways by simply breaking up into smaller pieces. We also ensure all of our production facilities utilizing plastic pellets have systems to prevent environmental discharge of these pellets.

We judge environmental impact using PIQET Life Cycle Assessment tools.

*Per a PIQET streamlined life cycle assessment, demonstrates reduced impact in GHG emissions, water use, energy use, and or solid waste.

From rigid paper containers to our tubes and cores, we have a large portfolio of fiber-based products. We strive to responsibly source this fiber whenever possible. That means we are not involved in unacceptable forestry practices including: 

• Illegal logging or trade in illegal wood or forest products
• Violation of traditional and human rights in forestry operations
• Destruction of high conservation values in forestry operations
• Signficant conversion of frests to plantation or non-forest use
• Introduction of genetically modified organisms in forestry operations

*Either recycled fiber, or wood fiber from known and responsible sources (FSC®, PEFC or SFI® preferred); or agricultural waste fiber.

Products, like those made from agricultural fiber, recycled paper, and other plant-based materials like sugarcane by-products, can be recyclable, repulpable, and biodegradable, all while offering functionality and convenience.  

*Material derived from renewable biomass such as wood fiber, grasses, sugar cane, crops or agricultural waste. Not all bio-based packaging is biodegradable.

Our optimized packaging solutions include lightweight materials and packaging formats that make the best use of space. We also focus on improving shelf life and protecting against damage in transport so that we can reduce the amount of waste that gets created after your product leaves the packaging facility. All of these innovations allow us to make transportation and delivery more efficient and environmentally conscious, reducing the overall environmental footprint of the supply chain. 

*Packaging that is the minimum adequate weight or volume for meeting the necessary requirements of the product being packaged.