Sustainability Improvements in Packaging and Logistics

Sustainable development is reportedly of great importance for Verstraete IML. The company continuously strives to minimize its impact on the environment. Its core business, in mould labelling, contributes to environment protection: the packaging and the label are made of the same material. This forms a mono packaging that can be fully recycled and enables Verstraets to ensure that the raw materials have the longest possible service life.

The company’s high-tech equipment and continued investment in the required resources helps it protect the environment and prevent pollution in all phases of the life cycle. For the production of IML labels, it minimizes the impact of its processes on the environment, the company takes the impact on the environment into account when buying raw materials and focuses on rational use of energy and reducing its CO2 footprint, reducing waste, and reducing the consumption of raw materials.

Facts and figures:

• By replacing the top plate on distribution pallets to a heavy duty cardboard plate, the company replaces 30 tons of plastic waste by 18 tons of cardboard waste.
• By re-calculating the dimensions of the anti-slip sheets used between stacked boxes on pallets, results in 670 kgs less waste per year.
• The company opts for automatic folded tray lids instead of manually folded lids. These automatic folded lids are a bit more expensive in purchase, but this is compensated by 250 kgs less cardboard waste per year.
• To protect its labels from s.a. humidity, each packed box has a plastic wrap inside it. By using a thinner type of plastic, the company saves up to 1.400 kgs per year in plastic waste, while still guaranteeing perfect quality to our customers.
• The same accounts for the plastic bags used in the pallet boxes. By reducing the thickness, the company ends up with 1.200 kg less plastic waste per year.

“However small these improvements may be, one of the promises we make towards the community, our customers, partners, employees and other stakeholders, is to continuously take into account the bigger environmental picture. Because every step towards a more sustainable production process matters,” said the company in a new release.