Amcor amplifies its global sustainability voice in China

Amcor has joined with 19 partners, including Amcor customers GSK, Unilever, Nestle, Coca-Cola and Mondelez, our supplier Henkel, Chinese NGO Green-River and the China Packaging Federation to make the Chinese packaging industry’s first sustainability statement.

Amcor was represented at this important event by Xin She, President of Amcor Greater China. He noted the significance of the partnership in driving action, and the importance of practical action:

*“Today is a historic day, where at the foot of the Himalayas, at the source all rivers in China, we have come together with our valued partners to agree practical solutions to address the issue of packaging pollution in China.
Working with our partners, we aim to see the Chinese packaging industry proactively promoting the development of sustainable packaging though new technologies, materials and processes.” *

A significant step towards our global sustainability goals

Amcor was the first global packaging business to pledge to make all its packaging reusable or recyclable by 2025. We’re already making meaningful progress - in the past year we increased our use of post consumer recycled resin (PCR) by over 40%, as we supported many customers to launch new products, several made from 100% PCR.

Collaboration is key to achieving this goal and the new partnership in China follows Amcor’s global sustainability footprint, which aims to align our customers with stakeholders who share a common vision of sustainability to make significant changes.

Amcor fully endorses a full-circle approach, where every step from materials sourcing, through innovative design, consumer education, disposal streams and processes and the potential next life of packaging is considered.

The China partnership completely embraces this, with the partners agreeing to work together to develop new technologies within packaging, to develop and promote recycling systems for consumer packaging and to ensure robust regulation and standards.

President for Amcor Greater China, Xin She highlighted some of the technical innovations that will support the plans:

“Packaging enterprises should develop recyclable, reusable or biodegradable packaging through eco-design, package light-weighting and simplifying packaging structures.”

But he also emphasized the need for work to go beyond packaging design:

“It is important not just to enhance the supply chain for recyclable, reusable or biodegradable packaging but also develop and optimize the collection and recycling of post consumed packages.”

Practical action is key

While meetings of change-makers are essential, words must be accompanied by deeds, and the China packaging partnership happily met this goal.
The commitment to the future by the partners was accompanied by practical, positive actions on the day.

This included a garbage collection and road cleaning event, featuring Amcor’s S-Bag – a specially designed collection system for all kinds of recyclable materials. Each S-bag has a unique QR code, so that users can participate in waste sorting activities and call for a bag pick up via an app. The bags are then shipped to recycling plants for sorting and re-using.

The day also featured a planning round-table where the partners agreed on the most practical next steps to take. The representative from Amcor customer Mondelez said:

“For brands, to achieve the 2025 pledge, we are now on the right path to working with packaging companies like Amcor to develop and design sustainable solution. Meanwhile, we also want to work with the government and relevant associations, jointly to build up the management system needed to increase the use of the recyclable and re-usable materials.”

Reflecting on the event, Xin She noted that the day was just the first step in an imeiportant and positive journey:

“Today’s meeting is an important early step, and as we progress, we will learn. There is a need to study and formulate standards on more sustainable packaging over time, building up the management system and better protect our local environment.”

It is hoped the success of this first meeting of significant leaders in the packaging industry in China will lead to further similar initiatives in the future. Already, Amcor’s relationship with the China Packaging Federation has been strengthened, and we are proud to have been invited by the CPF to attend the new packaging standards discussions.

Links for further reading

Earlier this year, Amcor conducted proprietary research on consumer perceptions and behavior related to packaging.

Download our report: It’s a Wrap: The future of packaging is all about sustainability

Hear how our customers and other partners are progressing their own sustainability programs through our BIG IDEAS podcast series https://www.amcor.com/about/big-ideas