Amcor Flexibles Americas' approach to managing operational waste

Our Amcor Flexibles Americas Business Group was proud to reduce its cumulative waste-to-disposal by 23.2% during the current EnviroAction period. Teams in North and South America successfully diverted 1,866 tonnes of waste from landfills – the equivalent of 120 fewer garbage trucks going to a landfill each year.

In North America, Amcor Flexibles sustainability and procurement teams worked closely with their waste management partner throughout FY19 to help with waste segregation and recycling, reduction of waste disposal costs and associated agreement negotiations. These efforts led to waste savings across several sites, attributed to improved waste management practices such as trim waste separation and the identification of new recycling outlets for waste that was previously sent to disposal.

In Latin America, the lack of industrial recycling infrastructure made waste diversion more complicated for Amcor sites in the region. Undeterred by the challenges, some sites partnered with private waste management companies, while others put their creativity into action to achieve positive outcomes.

• In Chile, AF Santiago Norte entered a commercial trial with their waste supplier to manage waste collection in return for purchasing all recovered waste. The team also started reusing plant-based paper boxes for waste sorting.

• In Colombia, AF Cali reduced waste disposal nearly 80% by training the local team on proper waste disposal and separating waste collection points in the facility to target both post-consumer and post-industrial waste.

• In Argentina, AF San Luis team members spent over a year working with a local university to test the use of plastic scraps as an additive to concrete mix. The research team announced the success of their trials in May 2019. Discussions with local and regional concrete producers to deliver the concrete compound on an industrial scale are ongoing.