UN World Water Day 2019: Meet the people helping to reduce water use

Amcor people are minimizing our impact on the environment and local communities in which we operate. Last year, a United Nations World Water Development Report found that more than five billion people could suffer water shortages by 2050 due to climate change, increased demand, and polluted supplies. With a large global footprint, we are regularly examining and reducing how much water we use, company-wide, as a way to better protect this natural resource.

We know our efforts are effective because we have sites successfully reducing their water use by more than half – and these results often come from a range of projects, from awareness campaigns to architectural changes. From FY16 to FY18, we reduced our absolute water use by 6.4%, which is more than 280,000 kL of water. This equates to more water than in 112 Olympic swimming pools!

Managing the water we use is part of our global sustainability programme. We measure and monitor our progress toward long-term targets, which we set down in 2008 and manage via our internal environment programme, known as EnviroAction.

Responsibility for progress toward our EnviroAction goals is held at site level and each of our nearly 200 manufacturing locations around the world completes a Water Management Plan (WMP) every year. These plans help our sites identify how to use water more efficiently by reviewing their water-use profile, and identifying opportunities for improvement. Efforts are particularly urgent in sites located in water-stressed regions.

Amcor people like Kalaimani Kathirvel, and many others, are helping Amcor work toward our long-term goal to continue to improve our water use efficiency at every site.

Site champions work with colleagues at their site to put WMPs in place – this is the most effective way to identify and manage the water challenges we face. Together, these teams regularly seek new ways to preserve water and reduce its use.

The four sites described below are responsible for over a quarter of Amcor’s water reduction efforts from Financial Year 2016 to 2018. Site champions at our other locations around the world are inspired by this and are creative and determined to make meaningful reductions at their own manufacturing plants.

Meet some of our colleagues who are leading water initiatives at Amcor sites.

Site champions Kannan Krishnamurthy, Rajeshkumar Dhanajayan, and Kalaimani Kathirvel taking a daily water meter reading.

The team reduced water use by 62% from FY16-FY18.

Amcor Pondicherry site champions identified 17 ways to reduce water use. Here’s a few of them:

• Tracking water use daily
• A water conservation campaign, including training for co-workers
• Identifying high consumption areas and installing pedal taps to minimize over-use
• Installing additional water meters and other efficiency fixtures throughout the facility
• A third-party water audit to identify further opportunities

Site Manager, Kannan Krishnamurthy, said: “We use water for domestic, gardening, cleaning and cooling purposes. We are delighted that this concerted effort reduced water consumption by so much.”

Meet site champions Debiao Zeng and Pingfang Ma.

The team reduced water use by about 60% from FY16-FY18.

Initiatives:
• Elevating pipes, making them easier to monitor and repair (the site is prone to subterranean ground-sinking which increases risks of leaks)
• Water conservation measures in the dormitory and canteen, and installing water-saving shower heads.
• Water meters in key areas to measure and monitor water use, daily

General Manager of Amcor South China, Walter Cheng, said: “We are increasingly aware of and acting to better protect our environment. The Tian Cai team reduced water use dramatically. I applaud their work and we will continue to explore further opportunities at this site.”

Meet site champions Pierre Athane and Marc-Antoine Bernard.

The team reduced water use by 57% from FY16-FY18.

Initiatives:
• New technology to collect dust and filter through cartridges, rather than water-based filtration
• Restricted water use to showers, canteens and other staff facilities

Pierre Athane, site champion, said: “Reducing the water we use by over half from the 2016 baseline is a huge achievement. It demonstrates the focus and the determination of the team to preserve this precious resource.”

Meet Eldar Mamedov, Alexey Loiko (site champion) and Ivan Pravdin.

This team reduced water use by 65% from FY16-FY18.

Initiatives:
• Improving supply networks to access hot water at all points without having to drain cold water first
• Replacing boilers with more efficient equipment so hot water is available at peak times, such as shift-end 
• Connecting the water network to an air compressor’s heat exchanger is enhancing the efficiency of the equipment, which has the added benefit of reducing the energy use!

Alexey Loiko, site champion, said: “We are proud to have reduced water use by well over half. Together with the team, I will continue looking for further opportunities to improve water efficiency at this site.”

Our work to measure and reduce our water use is one way we demonstrate 'Being Amcor', which is the way we describe our aspiration to win for all our stakeholders, including the environment. This commitment differentiates us as a leader in the packaging industry – we want the environment to be better off because of Amcor’s leadership and products.

Initiatives to reduce water use are not focused on operational sites alone: it extends to our work with customers – including many of the world’s biggest brands. Our proprietary life-cycle analysis tool, ASSET, delivers robust insights of the environmental effects at every stage of customer products and packaging. This includes water-use during raw-material extraction through processing, manufacturing, distribution, use, disposal or recovery, and recycling.

We are also better protecting the planet by improving the sustainability profiles of our products, and this is being spurred by the sustainability commitments captured in our 2025 Pledge and Global Commitment.

Related read: Collaboration is fuelling a plastic packaging revolution

Water can be an overlooked resource, especially in areas where it is inexpensive, or its use is not regulated. By maintaining focus at both regional and site levels, we’re raising awareness and stimulating conversations. Over the last three years, our WMPs have engaged Amcor people and many more on the need to preserve water around the world, especially in water-stressed locations.

Through our WMPs, we have evaluated and are closely monitoring sites in water-stressed locations, as identified by the WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas. WMPs also help us identify where our water management efforts can make the most meaningful impact; for example, a leak at a site that isn’t located in a water-stressed area may require a more urgent solution than a site in a water-stressed region that is only using a fraction of water.

June 2019 marks the end of our current three-year ‘EnviroAction Period’. In October, we will release our 2019 GRI Sustainability Report, which will contain an update on our EnviroAction programme and performance.

Teams from around the world are now looking to the future, developing the next set of targets and identifying where our long-term EnviroAction goals can continue to deliver improvements.

Related read: Our 2018 Sustainability Report details EnviroAction and our work to reduce water usage.

For further information, please connect with me: Sarah King.

Meet Sarah King, Sustainability Analyst at Amcor.

Sarah is responsible for a range of sustainability data and reporting. She manages Amcor’s EnviroChart platform, where sites enter energy, waste, water records which helps the company understand and further reduce that footprint. Sarah is part of the team that delivers Amcor’s annual GRI Report, and responds to customer and investor inquiries about environmental performance.

Sarah aggregates data for third-party assessments, including by CDP and EcoVadis, and works with Amcor’s global procurement function to monitor responsible sourcing KPIs, such as Supplier Code of Conduct adherence and EcoVadis scorecards for the company’s most strategic suppliers. Sarah also manages Amcor’s Earthwatch program, which engages the company’s employees in 10-day research missions relating to marine pollution.