Sonoco's flexible packaging facility in Waco, Texas, was recently named a gold sustainability star award recipient for its successful efforts to achieve landfill-free status. The plant becomes the first flexible packaging facility to achieve the award.
The sustainability star award marks a milestone in the landfill-free efforts that have been underway since 2013. Since then, the Waco plant has diverted 90 to 100 tons per month away from the landfill. Half of that waste is recycled and converted to energy.
"After the company announced its goal of taking 10 percent of its facilities landfill-free, we began efforts to eliminate the facility's waste streams," said Bob Puechl, Sunoco's vice president of global flexible packaging. "The Waco team took on this challenge for the flexible division. Waco has proven we can become landfill-free even with a very difficult product mix."
The Sonoco sustainability star awards program is comprised of three tiers: Gold recognizes facilities that have achieved 99-percent landfill diversion. Silver is awarded to facilities achieving 95-percent landfill diversion. Bronze recognizes facilities that have made significant waste-reduction achievements, such as drastically reducing their waste streams or implementing a new composting system.
For more information, visit www.sonoco.com.
