GROWING FROM THE CORE: 1970-2000
By the tail end of the 20th century, Sonoco was a part of just about every facet of American life (and many other lives around the world).
To understand the scope of our influence, let’s walk through an average day in the ’90s. Your alarm goes off. You head straight for the instant coffee and the oatmeal, both stored in Sonoco’s rigid paper containers on a shelf in your pantry.
You drive to work, crossing a bridge sitting on a foundation of pylons that were originally poured into Sonotube® concrete forms. You arrive at an office building that also rests on concrete pylons formed using Sonotube® technology.
Later, you grab lunch, dipping fries seasoned with a Sonoco-created salt dispenser into a sauce container that we also made.
On the way home, you stop off for weekly groceries, passing through aisles stocked with legions of temperature-safe, flexible containers engineered in a Sonoco plant.
In the kitchen, on the freeway, in the break room, in the supermarket: Sonoco was everywhere. And yet, while the construction market likely couldn’t avoid the word Sonoco, the average consumer never saw it.
Rarely would you see the “flying S” of Sonoco out in the wild on an actual product. (The same is true today.)
It’s possible that the only way to really know what Sonoco produced was to work for us. Elizabeth Rhue, Vice President of Global Environmental, Sustainability, and Technical Services, says: “There’s definitely a pride of walking through the grocery store and knowing specifically which projects you worked on and then also what products and packages Sonoco manufactures.”
A relatively secret sense of pride.
Moving into the early 2000s, our presence in daily life became more and more global. In 2003, the second-quarter issue of “The Sonoco Globe” featured an international “Shopping List” of our products, including:
- High barrier flexible packaging for microwavable cookies in Canada.
- Composite cans for tea latte products in the English and French markets.
- Grease cartridges for professional mechanics in Mexico.
- Cores for professional sports tape.
- Composite cans for a Venezuelan coffee roaster.
This list was a mere drop in the global bucket.
Today, our global presence is also informed by a commitment to 2030 Greenhouse Gas reduction goals, as well as the 17 goals set down by the United Nations in its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These include zero hunger, sustainable cities and communities, and responsible consumption and production.
Being ever present also requires being ever mindful of our impact.
No person’s day is exactly like someone else’s. But minute by minute, chances are Sonoco continues to positively shape people’s lives around the world.