When it comes to a sustainability strategy that spans multiple focus areas, tackling any large-scale, global goals takes consistent effort at smaller, regional levels. From climate management to resource preservation, initiating numerous localized projects helps to make greater collective impact. That mindset helps drive our action in the EMEA region, where we continue to work toward our Twentyby30™ sustainability program pillars and their defined targets, as well as industry-wide goals.
As explained in our new sustainability report “Progress in Motion,” executing our own corporate strategy and contributing to larger movements both require our investment in industry conversation and activations. It is imperative that we join forces with our peers and partners to address sustainability concerns, as on our own we are limited in the level of impact we can create. To that end, as the report documents, we have recently taken several notable steps in EMEA to champion progress across the value chain and work in tandem with other players in the industry.
Much of our collective work in EMEA as of late has centered around life cycle education—education for brands, for consumers and other groups that come into contact with our metal packaging products. This is because, while beverage and food cans are already widely acknowledged and appreciated for their superior recyclability and strong sustainability attributes, recycling rates and recycled content rates can and should continue to increase. We, along with brands and consumers, are a major part of that potential success. The more we can help to connect brands with sustainable packaging formats and educate their customers, and the more consumers can purchase products with recycled content and form good post-consumption and recycling habits, the stronger the life cycle becomes for metal cans—and the smaller its carbon footprint shrinks. Together, if all voices in the aluminum and steel value chains can be unified, offering clear informational resources and guidance for consumers, we can incite a shift in the recycling system and ensure more metal packaging makes its way into remanufacturing—and leaves minimal impact.
Our work with Every Can Counts (ECC) is an example of this education on recycling. An organization with a mission to increase aluminum beverage can recycling rates by effectively recapturing as many used beverage cans (UBCs) as possible, ECC just hosted its second International Recycling Tour this summer. The event spans across multiple countries in Europe and sends teams out to parks and urban areas to collect UBCS from consumers and speak to them about the importance of recycling. Through our collaboration with European Aluminium and other regional industry associations, we support the tour and its effort to keep UBCs out of landfills. The movement also aligns with the ambitious recycling rate targets we set last year, which include reaching an 80% goal in the European countries in which we operate. Additionally, working with ECC supports the roadmap designed by Metal Packaging Europe (MPE) and European Aluminium that strives for 100% aluminum beverage can recycling in Europe by 2030, as well as the European Commission’s new EU Circular Economy Action Plan 2.0 and its packaging sector requirements, which are being strengthened in the latest Packaging and Packaging waste Regulation.
Along the same lines of education and in recognition of our own role and responsibility in creating a shift, we co-hosted in September 2022 the industry’s first Global Aluminium Can Sustainability Summit in partnership with CMI, Ardagh Metal Packaging and the International Aluminium Institute. Held in Rome, Italy and bringing together more than 100 members of the aluminum value chain, the event kickstarted valuable dialogue on subjects like decarbonization strategies for the industry, standardized recycled content definitions and measurements, recycling education for consumers and methods for improving the recycling system in various parts of the world. Primary material suppliers, can sheet suppliers, packaging manufacturers, beverage can and aluminum organizations, research organizations and beverage brands were all present for these conversations, mobilizing activity together in person and with owned action items to keep the momentum going.
In addition to helping to organize key events, we also are investing in industry progress by being active participants of other value chain members’ conferences. Sustainability representatives from our team attended the CRU World Aluminium Conference 2023 in London earlier this year. Through panel sessions, presentations and collaboration opportunities, the event’s topics again focused on how value chain members can galvanize the industry to reach net zero targets, increase UBC recycling rates and align on recycled content definitions for metal packaging.
Beyond recycling-related topics, our larger efforts to support industry decarbonization extended to the Middle East in the last year, where we led a session at the Future Food Forum 2022 in Dubai, UAE. The event, designed to explore pathways for the MENA region’s food and beverage sector to adopt more sustainable business models, served as a platform for brand manufacturers to source solutions and strategies for aligning with the Circular Economy Roadmap issued by the UAE government from 2021 to 2031. Participating in this event enabled us to join our peers in urging various food and beverage producers to minimize their environmental impacts by setting greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, exploring alternative energy sources and utilizing responsible packaging materials and production methods.
Additionally, at the start of 2023, Crown and other EGA coalition partners helped to organized the official launch of the Emirates Aluminium Recycling Coalition. This is a milestone event in our roadmap toward improving the recycling of cans in the UAE and GCC region. Crown and EGA are also partnering with the International Aluminium Institute and Roland Berger Consulting to conduct a waste and recycling study in the UAE and five other countries (three of which are countries in Southeast Asia). The results of the study will be presented at the United Nations’ COP28 event in Dubai in December 2023.
While the more measurable results of these types of industry-wide gatherings and initiatives often take time to appear, what they demonstrate is that major players within the value chain for consumer goods markets are understanding their roles in effecting change across the industry and are, in many cases, dedicated to putting in the work. The inspiration, guidance and support—and, simply the ability to communicate on a human level with one’s peers—that various group activities or conferences offer can make all the difference in turning discussion into meaningful action.
With this in mind, we aim to continue investing time and resources into industry events and movements that create opportunities for collaboration. Whether focused on circularity, emissions reductions, material preservation or anything in between, we are energized and committed to being a team player as much as possible.
By Sandrine Duquerroy-Delesalle, Director, Sustainability & External Affairs, Crown Bevcan EMEA
