Green achievements for US corrugated packaging industry

The US-based Corrugated Packaging Alliance (CPA) has released a new corrugated industry life cycle assessment (LCA), showing the corrugated industry’s environmental progress, including a 35 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions between 2006 and 2014.
The reduction was achieved through increased recovery of old corrugated containers (OCCs) and use of energy generated from renewable, carbon-neutral biomass and decreased overall use of fossil fuels.
“The LCA results demonstrate the efforts our mills and converting facilities are making to reduce the industry’s supply chain impact on the environment,” said Dennis Colley, Executive Director, CPA. “Sustainable forest procurement, along with the high old corrugated containers recovery rate provide for a well-balanced system of fibre and supports the sustainability of our industry’s products.”
The LCA examined the effects of a one kilogram industry-average corrugated product manufactured in 2014 on seven environmental impact indicators: global warming potential, eutrophication (run-off from land causing excessive richness in bodies of water), acidification, smog, ozone depletion, respiratory effects, fossil fuel depletion and four inventory indicators: water use, water consumption, renewable energy demand and non-renewable energy demand.
The recovery rate for OCC increased from 72 per cent to 89.5 per cent in the period studied – as more is recovered, less goes to landfill, thereby reducing methane emissions.