Assa Abloy was made a finalist in the Household Goods Packaging Action category, for a continued focus on improving manufacturing and design processes, and incorporating the principles of reduce, reuse, recycle and recover.
Having just completed the first year of its three-year action plan, the company felt it has made significant in-roads in managing packaging waste, including improving its extensive recycling facilities and implementing a ‘reuse where possible’ policy, resulting in approximately 74 tonnes of waste packaging having been recycled last year.
A focus on the environmental impact of all new products was introduced into Assa Abloy’s product development program, including successfully recording all current packaging and product weights to be used as benchmarks for future packaging development and reduction.
Based on the 2005/2006 annual sales volume by product family, Assa Abloy’s product weight versus packaging weight ratio was a credible 16:1.
Those products with a low product weight versus packaging weight ratio are now being targeted.
Reusable or returnable packaging is also very important to Assa Abloy with over eight million components or parts in a reusable packaging medium being shipped during 2005/2006.
This is both a cost effective process and an environmental impact reduction activity that uses less packaging, diverts packaging from the waste stream and creates a continuous closed-loop process.
Of all cardboard used within Assa Abloy’s domestic market, 90% is currently produced from recycled fibres and the company is focusing on increasing the level of recycled material used in both its carton board and plastics during the next year.
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