We knew that going into this process that it would not be easy. However, each employee made contributions to the efforts that helped us earn this certification. There were moments of extra efforts made. For instance, the warehouse manager actually weighed the dumpster before and after the hauls for 4 weeks to get an actual weight that we could use as an estimate. That is one picture of several ways that the employees took ownership of this certification process.
Packaging represents about 40% of municipal solid waste. As a packaging company, Atlantic knows we’re part of a supply chain that has the potential to create a lot of waste – if we let it. Over the last few years, we’ve taken radical actions to transition our packaging to be more sustainably made, recyclable, or compostable so we can help our customers move to more circular packaging. But it’s just as important that we get our own house in order by becoming TRUE certified at as many of our facilities as we can.
"Measuring our waste streams and pursuing the certification has meant deeper engagement with our employees to understand recyclability, find outlets for challenging materials, and pursuing options like lower-waste catering," said Caroline DeLoach, Director of Sustainability at Atlantic Corporation. "As we’ve learned from this internal work, we’re even better prepared to help our customers move towards a more circular economy for packaging."
Photo credit: Jud Douglass