Dear employees, esteemed business partners and customers!

Public interest in plastics has rarely been as pronounced in ALPLA’s 60 years as a company as it has been in recent months. The image of this material has suffered due to ever greater pollution of the environment, with plastic packaging being the focus of public attention here in particular. Media reports have played a part in making issues such as marine littering and microplastics highly emotive topics of debate. Nonetheless, plastic has become part and parcel of everyday life. Without it, there would be no aeroplanes, no life-saving operations and no hygienically packaged food.

What does this mean for ALPLA? What effect does the current situation have on a global enterprise that produces packaging solutions made of plastic? Our response is that the responsible use of resources is now more important than ever before. But we must also see to it that everyone within the value chain appreciates the value of resources and contributes to a functioning circular economy.

Design for recycling – the key to sustainable packaging solutions

For ALPLA, this means we are already considering the entire life cycle while designing our packaging solutions. How can we design packaging in such a way that it can be recycled after use? Where can we reduce the use of materials and additives while continuing to offer impressive functions? Our global presence allows us to set industry benchmarks: these high standards apply at 178 plants in 46 countries around the world, with our tailored product development and our in-house toolmaking and special-purpose engineering serving to guarantee these high quality standards.

Expansion of recycling activities

A major advantage of plastics is their good recyclability. ALPLA has decades of experience in particular with regard to PET, which is used a great deal – we operate our own recycling plants in Austria and Poland, one in the form of a joint venture in Mexico and another as a partnership in Germany. These activities are to be further expanded, including in the area of HDPE. In October 2018, ALPLA signed the Global Commitment of the New Plastics Economy, an initiative of the renowned Ellen MacArthur Foundation, thereby committing to achieving ambitious targets by 2025. ALPLA is also looking into alternative, bio-based materials.

Plastic must be seen as a valuable material. It is too good to throw away and should be collected, sorted and reused instead. The right infrastructure and a functioning collection and waste management system are needed if the success of past endeavours is to be continued. Then each and every individual really could play their part.

This third sustainability report tells you all about our achievements and our targets for sustainable development. We firmly believe that plastic is a material with a future. And we are shaping this future with responsibility, prudence and foresight.